


Moonlit Romance

by chaucer345



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Action & Romance, F/M, Seriously that burn is glacially slow., Slow Burn, Werewolves, lycanthropy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-23
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2018-06-10 05:49:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 24,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6942349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaucer345/pseuds/chaucer345
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Judy thought her biggest problem was Nick rejecting her advances, and it was... Until a certain lupine criminal bit her.</p><p>Now she carries the mark of the werewolf. With the voice of a demon inside her, a newfound lust for violence, and a cult out for her life, things are looking pretty grim.</p><p>But her partner and her friends on the force aren't just sitting idle. If the dark secrets of the occult want to hurt Judy, then they're going to have to go through them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Ruff Begining

Moonlit Romance

               "I'm sorry..." Nick said, a whole four minutes into the stakeout.

               I groaned... And now came the part where I felt guilty about feeling bad. I forced a smile. "Nick... I'm not going to pretend I'm happy, but I get it. You can't force attraction." I wondered if I  would feel less shitty if he told me it was gay. It was basically the same thing after all.

               "Seriously Carrots, I'm really not trying to hurt you here! I just... I'm not..."

               I rubbed at my temples. "Look, Nick, I get it. You're not attracted to prey. Just because _I_ am attracted to you does not mean _you_ need to be attracted to me." It just meant that it sucked to be me.

               He seemed unsatisfied, "Yeah, but I love you! In a strictly platonic sense sure, but that doesn't mean you aren't a super important person to me." He put a paw on my shoulder, "You're my best friend Judy. I really mean that."

               His words cut into me like a knife straight out of the forge, but I managed a weak smile. "Thanks Nick."

               "You know if you were a predator I'd be on you in a heartbeat." He said.

               "I know."

               He twiddled his thumbs. "So... are we good?"

               I took a sip of coffee,  "Yeah... We're good."

               He nodded. "Good."

               "Yup."

               There was a long. Long pause.

               A crackle came over the radio. "Wilde! Hopps! Suspect on the move! He's headed in your direction, moving fast!"

               _Oh thank the gods_. I snapped back to Nick, all business. "I'll take point, cover me!"

               He nodded, readying his taser.

               We had been tracking this poor bastard for weeks. All we knew was he was a wolf, and  we were pretty sure he was on a mix of night howlers and PCP from how he was running around terrorizing the city. There had been three maulings in the past three months already, and we did _not_ need a repeat of the Bellwether incident.

               We slid into the alley, tasers at the ready. We'd been given special dispensation to crank up the voltage on them. This guy wasn't going down easy, but we were damn well prepared.

               I hit the wall for cover and whispered into my headset. "Team B in position."

               Francine's voice crackled through the line. "Hopps, I've lost visual. He went up the building."

               "Fire escape?"

               "Maybe? The wall looked sheer to me, but my night vision's not the best. I think I see a silhouette on the roof."

               " _Should have had me on lookout..._ " Nick grumbled.

               "Nick we're all on lookout." I noted, "He just happened to wander into Francine's sector fir-."

               There was a thunderous crash. I barely managed to roll out of the way before a wolf, down on all fours and snarling, slammed down into the alley.

               I had no idea where he'd jumped down from and I didn't care. I fired off my taser.

               I swear he saw the prongs coming for him and dodged them. I'd never seen anyone move that fast. He lunged at me and I rolled to the side, pulling out my mace instead.

               Out of the corner of my eye I caught Nick, set in the weaver stance and trying to line up a shot. The wolf gave a growl and charged again.

               I sprayed him. I swear, I hit him right in the eyes.

               He didn't so much as flinch.

               He slammed me against the wall, biting down on my neck. I cried out in pain and whacked at his maw with my baton. Blood poured from his mouth, his blood and mine, but still he wouldn't let go.

               Then there was yet more pain, and the world went white.

#

               When I woke up, I was in a bed surrounded by half the ZPD starring down at me.

               _Gods I'm short..._ I thought groggilly. "Wha? What happened?"

               "Judy, thank the gods." Nick was on me in an instant, wrapping me in a warm hug.

               It took me a minute to process this. Nick Wilde was snuggling up to me in bed. I'd had dreams like this.

               I heard the clearing of a very gruff, very familiar throat. "Officer Hopps. We're glad to have you back." The Chief looked down on me, wearing a rare smile.

               I opened my mouth to ask for an explanation, but the chief just held up his hand. "Before you ask, the suspect is in lockup. Officer Wilde tased him. Unfortunately, you were attached at the time."

               That explained passing out from pain. "How long was I out?" I asked.

               "A week." The chief said.

               My eyes widened. "A wee-!"

               He held up his hand again. "Hopps, the suspect was infected with some sort of disease. Apparently you picked it up. You've had a high fever for an extended period of time, during which sedation was the best option."

               I raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't the doctor be explaining all of this?"

               "Yes! I should!" Came a voice. A very perturbed looking honey badger hopped up to the side of the bed and, in a truly impressive show, glared down an entire room of professional police officers. "What is the matter with you people! Do you think this is a soothing environment. Out! All of you out!"

               The department, stunned, followed her orders, saying weak goodbyes and heading for the door.

               Then she turned to Nick. "You too boy toy, visiting hours ended ages ago."

               Nick stared at the doctor. "She's my partner!"

               The doctor smiled. "That's sweet. I'm sure your wedding will be beautiful." Then she grabbed him by the tie and physically yanked him off the bed.  "Now get the hell out!"

#

               Two days later, some painkillers and a forced medical leave (despite the fact that I felt _fine_ , at least for desk work). I still heard the doctor's words ringing in my ears as I stared up at the decrepit ceiling of my apartment.

               _Our wedding_ would _be beautiful_. I know, I know I was a walking stereotype, I was a stupid love obsessed school girl, I was a tool of the patriarchy. Call it what you will, but I was still crushing on that fox. I was crushing bad and I didn't know how to deal with it.

               It didn't help that lying in bed left me with zero distractions. Seriously, my entire life I had solid goals. Get into the police academy, pass the qualification tests, become a real police officer instead of a despised meter maid, get bumped up to detective, ect.

               I'd accomplished all of them with aplomb, except for that last one, which was still a work in progress. But this? This 'I want Nick' business? I had no idea how to deal with it.

               Nick was not a goal. He was a person who I cared about. I couldn't force him to like me and I'd be a bad person for trying.

               But... I still wanted him. Did that mean I should make it my goal to _not_ want him? I groaned. This was getting me nowhere fast.

                Idly I looked in the mirror off to the side of my bed. There she was, adorable little bunny Judy Hopps, laying there in her civvies with no one who wanted to touch her.

               I sighed. "Why couldn't I just be a predator?" I asked. It would have made things so much simpler.

               " _Aren't you lucky then."_ said a voice.

               I blinked, hopping to my feet and scanning the room... There was no one.

               Was I hearing things? Was it-

               Any further thoughts were lost completely as I felt an incredible pain in my gut. I grunted, curling on the bed as my vision blurred and I felt heated all over.

               I made a noise I barely recognized and my skin prickled as little aches sprouted along my muscles all over my body. I cried out in pain. My voice... Something was wrong. I clawed for my phone, but I couldn't grab a hold of it.

               Holy crow. Was I going to die?

               Finally the pain subsided. I took a deep breath, steadying myself.

               I looked down. And I screamed. My voice was lower, huskier, but I barely noticed that as _all_ of my clothes were shredded and my fur had gone reddish brown. I was bigger too.  I filled the bed up entirely.

               I started hyperventilating. What was happening? Finally I turned to the mirror. There staring back at me was a red wolf girl wearing the tattered remains of clothes too small for her.

               I started screaming, and I didn't stop until my throat was raw.

              

              


	2. Questions and... well, more questions.

Moonlit Romance

One of the many horrors of urban living was that no one came running when you screamed.

I started pacing back and forth in my suddenly much smaller apartment. "Cheese and crackers, cheese and crackers..."

" _Is that really how you curse?_ " The disembodied voice asked.

"Who are you!?" I shouted at the nothing "Oh burrow brambles I'm going crazy. My fever is back and this is all some random coma dream."

_"What is a coma? Oh never mind. Don't you want to go outside? Hunt some prey for dinner, mate with this 'Nick'?"_

I threw up my arms. "What? I am _not_ eating people! What the hell do you think I am?"

_"The predator who won the right to carry my pow... Wait a minute."_

I felt the oddest sensation, like a ghost was sniffing me. " _YOU ARE PREY?"_

I blinked, _What...?_

 _"HOW IN THE DEPTHS OF TARTARUS DID A RABBIT MIX HER BLOOD WITH THE PRIMAL!?_ " The voice screamed.

I don't know why I bothered, but the investigator in me tried to make sense of that. "Hang on, mix my what with the what?"

The voice started sputtering. " _Are you...? Aren't you the warrior who faced my vessel and poured his blood into your veins?"_

I thought back to the confrontation with the wolf from downtown (the connection was obvious). "Wait... The fish market salesman that went feral... That was _you_?" Well, assuming she wasn't a hallucination, which was a bit of a stretch.

" _I unlocked the power of the savagery of old inside of him... Like I'd be doing for you IF YOU HAD ANY! For pity's sake child, what madness drove you to seek out the hunt? And here I thought my last host had his savagery buried deep."_

I narrowed my eyes. Okay, this was messed up and terrifying, big time, that was obvious, but for some reason the fear was starting to fade to anger. I growled. A low, terrible thing. It rumbled in my chest and I found my lips curling back. "Get out of my head."

_"Now we're talking..."_

This was getting ridiculous. "Who the hell are you even supposed to-?"

A noise hit me, no a lot of noises, no _all_ of the noises.

I've always had excellent hearing. Even for a rabbit I could pick out voices from across a field.

This was different. I heard people talking from 6 stories down through the walls. I heard lice crawling on my neighbors. I heard the pounding of someone's footsteps on the stairs.

_Wait, I know those footsteps. That's-_

My _extremely_ enlightening conversation with the voice in my head was interrupted when Nick Wilde kicked my door open (I really needed better locks) and leveled a gun at me. "ZPD! Freeze!"

His eyes widened. I could hardly blame him. Here I was, a wolf in the tatters of his partner's pajamas clutching my head in pain and shouting at myself. I may also have been showing a bit too much fur so there was that too.

The shock ended... Then something of a transformation came over Nick too. Gone was the pretense of the cop in control. Gone was the clever good -natured snark. In its place, I saw his hackles raise and he thumbed back the hammer of his gun for good measure. "Where is Judy?"

I was both terrified and flattered.

I put my hands up, backing against the tiny bed. "Nick, I can explain..."

Okay that was a complete lie. I was sitting in my apartment having turned into a wolf and just spent quite a while shouting at voices in my head. I didn't even know what was going on, much less had the ability to explain it. Even if I could I doubted anyone would believe it.

The obvious solution was to come up with a clever lie, perhaps saying...

What? Seriously, I had absolutely nothing. Even if I told him I was someone else, how was I supposed to explain wandering into Judy Hopps' apartment, shredding her pajamas, and then putting them on before screaming for a full minute and then having a bizarre conversation with the voice in my head? Because all I was coming up with was that I was an escaped mental patient with a rabbit fetish and that really wouldn't be a great thing to say to avoid getting shot.

Plus, this was _Nick_ we were talking about. He was a stellar detective through and through, and any lie I told him he'd be able to shoot down in seconds. Besides... He was my partner. If I couldn't tell him what was happening who could I tell?

 _No one would be wise._ The voice chimed in, unhelpfully.

I ignored it. "Listen... I know this sounds crazy, but I'm Judy. I turned into a wolf, and I'm not sure why."

He raised an eyebrow. "Sure you are..." I saw his eyes sweep the scene, clearly coming to my 'crazy person' explanation all on his own.

"I can prove it!" I said. "My phone password, it's 'tryeverything48', no spaces! Go ahead, try it!" I pointed to my phone.

Unfortunately that made the fox tense up even more. "Where did you get that information? Have you been stalking an officer of the law?"

I sputtered. "What? No I... Wait a minute." I narrowed my eyes. "You didn't even check my phone! Why do you know my password?" Seriously, that was messed up.

He blinked, looking momentarily embarrassed. "What? I... Hey!" He steadied his grip on the gun. "First of all it's not _your_ password, It's officer Hopps'. Secondly, I'm asking the questions here, now who are you?"

I winced. I guess I could shelve that one for later. "I know other things. When we were investigating the Missing Mammals case I got you on board by threatening to expose your tax evasion."

He flinched. Then growled. "I have no idea how you know that, but it doesn't mean you're Carrots- I mean, Officer Hopps. And if you're trying to threaten me, I think this little incident has hamstringed your credibility."

He switched to a one handed grip and pulled out a pair of handcuffs. "Now you're going to be nice and still while-"

"I called myself a dumb bunny!" I snapped.

He froze, handcuffs still jingling in his paw. "What?"

I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding. "Under the bridge, after I was a huge butt to you and every other predator who didn't deserve it. I admitted how narrow minded I was..." I shuddered. "And I said... I said I would understand if you never wanted to see me again... And you still gave me a second chance."

I felt tears welling. "Because that's who you are. You're the fox that sees the good in everyone, even if you try to wall that off with cynicism or anger or plain old sarcasm. You still care. You can't stop... You can't even stop forgiving. It's why..." I shuddered. "It's why I fell in love with you."

I saw the gears turning in Nick's head. "But... I cased that spot, I had a lookout, there wasn't anyone there... How...?"

I grit my teeth. If there was ever a time when I needed someone to trust me, it was now. "Please Nick! If you don't believe me, look at the physical evidence! There's no sign of a struggle, the door didn't show any signs of being tampered with, despite the fact that I was still locked inside, and the seams of my clothes aren't burst in the way you'd expect for a larger Mammal who struggled into a small mammal's clothes to be."

He lowered the gun, his eyes wide. "But you- I..."

And then I heard it. It was a tiny thing, but it did the impossible. It made my night worse.

It was the sound of another gun being cocked. Right outside my door.

#

"NICK GET DOWN!" I shouted.

Reflexes kicked in and he hit the deck, just in time. A wolf  wearing a jeans jacket wheeled around the corner (I was beginning to notice that this insane portion of my life had a theme) and moved quickly to line up a shot with a dart gun.

Fortunately, I was quicker. _Much_ quicker.

I started learning martial arts when I was 12. I had had various teachers over the course of my life, but knew relatively few styles. The reason for this was because all my teachers were bunnies.

Now hang on, before you accuse me of prejudice... well, even more prejudice than the stupid crap I still fight, the reason I studied bunny martial arts exclusively was because they were the only ones I had any real hope of mastering. Martial arts are all about understanding how to use the little quirks of your body to your advantage in a fight. Studying Giraffe Capoeira (though very entertaining, and impressive to watch), was of little use to me.

Of course, when I joined the Police academy I had to learn a lot about how other Mammals' bodies moved so I could subdue them, but there was a wide gap between theory and practice.

As a wolf all of my muscles felt subtly different, my form of attack was an educated guess, with no real muscle memory or training behind it.

And somehow I still kicked ass.

I reached the doorway lightning quick and smacked the gun so hard out of the wolf attacker's grip that it lodged itself in the ceiling.

She entered a much more practiced fighting stance and made to claw me. It was fast, lightning fast...

I felt time slow. It felt like an adrenaline rush times a thousand, an endless blazing pit of fire I could tap into on a whim.

I grabbed her arm and flung her. It was supposed to slam her into the ground, but I was strong, impossibly strong. She sailed down the hall.

As luck would have it, she collided with two more armed wolves.

The first wolf, a male this time, was hit flat footed, smashing into the ground with his accomplice, his dart gun clattered to the floor. The final one slid in front of them, drawing a shimmering sword.

Okay, _that_ was weird enough to cut through the haze. I blinked. Who in the heck uses-?

She didn't give me time to complete the thought, thrusting her blade straight for me.

I dodged. I dodged _fast_. All that connected was a thin portion of the blade against my thick fur. It was the tiniest, most miniscule scratch...

And it burned like a hot iron. The adrenaline drained from me and I felt my legs buckle. _Silver!_ The voice shouted inexplicably. It sounded... Terrified.

I couldn't blame it. The wolf woman whipped around her sword so fast I thought she was possessed and prepared for another plunge.

"Look out behind you!" Nick shouted.

Impossibly, out of some bizzare instinct that I was sure she'd never live down, the wolf whipped her head around.

The fox tased her. She shuddered and fell to the ground.

He whipped out his gun and aimed for. "ZPD Free-"

But the other wolves had already fled.

He cuffed the swordswolf and then turned to help me up. "You okay Carrots?"

I still felt a bit sick, but I managed a smile. "Y-You believe me?"

He gave me a classic Nick Wilde shrug. "What was it that Shrewlock guy said? When the entire world's gone crazy, just accept that some of the messed up weird crap is probably real?"

I snorted. "Something like tha-"

A crackle came from within the swordswolf's coat. "Kara! Kara come in!"

I opened up the Wolf's (Kara's?) jacket, revealing an old fashioned walkie talkie.

I snagged it instantly and pressed reply. "This is Judy Hopps of the ZPD. I don't know why you attacked me, but things will go easier for you if-"

"Judith!" An old man replied. "Oh thank the gods, the beast has not yet consumed you."

I blinked. "What?"

The line crackled again. "Judith please, we know you are a noble woman, we know your will is great, but it _will not last_. The beast cannot be tamed, but there _is_ a way to end it!"

I felt a chill run down my spine. Did... did he know about the voice? "Who are you?" I asked. "What the heck are you talking about?"

"Your life must end Judith Hopps." The man replied. "If it does not, then the lives of innocents will pay the price..."

 


	3. Lies and Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reinforcements arrive.

"Yeah... No." Nick snatched the walkie-talkie from my hand and yanked out the batteries.

I stared at him like he'd grown a third head. "Nick what the hell! That was really freaking important."

He tossed the thing into an evidence bag. "Carrots, when crazy people with swords tell your terrified partner that she needs to kill herself it has ceased to become a valuable conversation."

"Nick, he said-"

" _I heard what he fucking said!_ " He snapped, a halfway violent look in his eye.

I stepped back. I had just thrown a wolf down a hallway like a rag doll and I... I was actually a little bit scared of him right then.

His expression drooped. He shook himself. "We are not solving this problem by killing you. That is not an option. Now, backup is on the way and we have to come up with one hell of a story, preferably while taking cover in the nearest basement in case these loonies have a sniper."

_Clever, I must admit, the vulpines always were..._

"That's speciesist!" I scolded, defending my partner.

Nick blinked. "Uh... What?"

I sighed... The same arguments as before still applied. Time to embrace the crazy. "I have a voice in my head. It seems to be... I don't know what it is."

The fox lifted a finger, no doubt intent on asking several pointed questions, but ultimately shook his head. He hoisted up our prisoner. "This is a conversation we can have from cover. Now, you'll need a name..."

#

"Janet Howler." I said, when Francine asked.

The elephant nodded, writing it down. She was outside the door to the apartment complex's laundry room, not being able to quite fit in a mid-scale building.

Our choice of location was a stroke of brilliance if I do say so myself! I had managed to scavenge a hoodie and a slightly ill fitting pair of worn jeans from the "lost and found" box (I was going to return them later, I swear), and it was a heavy concrete room underground with two entrances so close together they were easy to watch.

I still lacked underwear though. Which made everything a little chafey because, while it was by no means overly endowed, this body was more mammalian than I was used to.

The elephant had arrived with Fangmeyer (her recently rotated partner). And the white wolf had promptly dragged our prisoner to the back of their cruiser.

Said prisoner, by the way, had said nothing but the word "lawyer" since she'd shaken off the tasing.

The elephant wrote my name down quickly, her trunk writing making me more than a little jealous honestly. A third limb always seemed so... Well, "handy".

Then again, body swapping wasn't all it was cracked up to be so maybe I should count my blessings.

"And why were you here?" She asked, looking properly concerned.

I sighed. "I... I was looking for a place to stay. I thought I might have family here, but they appear to have moved on."

Francine noted the defeat in my voice. "You're homeless?" She asked, carefully.

I cringed and looked down, just like we'd practiced. "I used to live with my parents in the woodlands, but they kicked me out. They... They weren't fond of me having a coyote boyfriend."

Fangmeyer, appearing in the doorway, winced. "We have resources that could help you. Do you want to talk to a social worker?"

I shook my head. "No... That's okay, I'll figure it out."

The white wolf grimaced, he looked away. "Ma'am, I appreciate the self reliance, but this does not seem like a random attack. We might have to put you in a safehouse for a little while."

Francine raise an eyebrow at her partner. She turned to Nick. "Excuse me, Officer Wilde, could you stay with Miss Howler for a moment? I need to confer with my partner on something."

That said, they slid away down the driveway and started a hushed conversation.

Of course, since I recently gained super-hearing it was hardly hushed to me.

"Fangmeyer, I know you're a bleeding heart knight in shining armor, and don't get me wrong, I like that, but we can't just drag every homeless person we meet into protective custody! We're the police, not habitat for mamality."

Fangmeyer was instantly on the defensive. "She needs our help Francine! Didn't you hear Wilde's report? Three armed attackers and one on the radio. That doesn't sound random to me."

Francine sighed. "Okay, you have a point there, but it doesn't change the fact that we're fresh out of safehouses and this doesn't sound like the kind of thing we can solve in an afternoon. What do you want to do, throw her in the drunk tank?"

"I can put her up at my place, I have a guest room."

"That is _super_ against regulation."

It really, really was. Nick turned to me. "Carrots, you okay?" he whispered.

"Yeah, just listening in... I can hear like everything."

Nick raised an eyebrow. "Carrots wolves have good hearing, but aren't you used to having way better hearing than that? I never thought those bunny ears were for show."

I bit my lip. He was right. That didn't make sense. "Maybe it's like the strength, I don't know."

 _It is one of many powers I can draw upon._ The voice inside me said. _For I have learned... Why does the strange creature with the trunk refer to that she-wolf as a "he"?_

I blinked. "Huh?"

"Huh what?" Nick asked.

Our conversation was cut short as our two siblings in blue came back. "Thank you for all your time ma'am." Francine began. "We don't want to alarm you, but we do feel you could be at risk."

Fangmeyer coughed. "And while our safehouses are already over-crowded, as a private citizen I'd be willing to put you up for a couple of nights until we apprehend your attackers.

Okay _this_ was an unexpected development. We had banked on me getting into a formal safe house while Nick investigated and I tried to get a handle on this crap.

But... I guess Fangmeyer's place was better than nothing.

I needed to play this carefully, think about what Janet would do in this situation... and then I realized something that would be suspicious in its absence. I shuddered, turning to Francine. "Is... Is he okay?"

Fangmeyer winced, while Francine rolled her eyes. "He's a huge boyscout."

_Wait? She is a scout? What king does she scout for... Where are we?_

_Zootopia._ I thought back, hard. I had no idea if that would work, I was just trying things.

As luck would have it, the voice responded. _What kingdom is that?_

"Ma'am I can see your hesitation..." Fangmeyer began, the white wolf choosing his words carefully, "But these people seem very serious. It would be good to be near someone who can handle themselves."

"If it makes you feel better, I could tag along." Nick added, helpfully conning his way in. "It's not like I'd pass up a chance to drink all of Fangsy's beer."

The other canine raised an eyebrow, but he stayed otherwise composed. "I'd be more than open to that if it got you off the streets and away from those psychopaths."

I clenched my paws. "I guess you'd be safer than out here..."

Nick put his paws together. "Right then, It's settles road trip to Casa Fangmeyer! Dibs on shotgun."

Fangmeyer rolled his eyes. "The things I do for this city..."

#

A few minutes later, we'd arrived at our 'safe house'.

Fangmeyer appeared to own a house all his own within city limits. It was pretty darn impressive considering what we were paid. I guess he'd inherited it or something

The white wolf let us inside, blushing. "Sorry for the mess. I didn't know I'd be having company."

The place was utterly immaculate. It had a living room, kitchen (I could smell the spice cabinet from here), dining room...

I caught a glimpse of a picture sitting on an end table in the entry way, it had a pair of wolf parents and their three kids...

Strangely enough, the only white wolf pup was wearing a dress. Maybe Fangmeyer bleached his fur? And I did see a couple pictures of him later.

Nick eyed the place up and whistled. "Nice Digs."

Fangmeyer shrugged. "So... Yeah, the house is tornado proofed, and we've got a burglar alarm so that'll help deter those weirdos who came charging after you. Francine, my partner who you met earlier, she should be by in a bit to watch the front door once she's filed all the paper work."

I smiled. Minor wrinkles or no, the plan had been to get somewhere safe while we sorted everything out, and this was perfect! Well... Except for Fangmeyer being here. That made it a heck of a lot harder to compare notes with Nick.

I eyed the walls. There were more family photos, a lot more. _And yet his is a lonely den... I wonder what happened to the poor bitch's pack._

I grimaced. _You can't say bitch! That's a wolf word! And he's a boy for pity's sake._

_And obviously I'm a wolf... Or a spirit...? Or...? Agh! This prey body! It cannot sustain my magics... Great Odin I'm tired..._

I lifted an eyebrow. Whatever the voice was, it kept raising more questions. _What do you mean by-_

"Miss Howler?" Fangmeyer asked. He and Nick were looking at me worried.

I shook myself and shot them a slightly nervous smile. "Sorry, just... Lost in thought."

Oddly, Fangmeyer winced. "Right... Well, I don't have a lot of food in the house, would you folks like to order some sushi? My treat... Except for you Wilde." He added when Nick got a sinister look in his eyes.

Nick snorted. "Why Fangsy, do you really think I'd take advantage of your hospitality just for a free deluxe Salmon platter?"

The wolf rolled his eyes and sighed. "I miss Hopps. She's the only one that can keep you in line."

Nick stuck out his tongue and I smirked. I'd have to do something nice for Fangmeyer when I got back to normal. I wonder if he'd like blueberries?

We ended up piling into the living room (it had not one, but _two_ couches, one of which I noticed a fairly impressive Francine sized dent in).

Fangs produced a takeout menu with a smirk. "Ah, the wonders of having an all pred dinner. You folks up for some fish?"

My eyes widened. _Oh shit._

_What's the problem? Fish sounds lovely... Odin knows I could use the boost._

Fangmeyer tilted his head. "Are... You okay?"

I gulped. "Uh... No offense to you guys, but I think I'll just stick with the veggie stuff."

Fangmeyer looked at me funny. Nick mirrored his expression, but I could see the tension underneath.

The white wolf sighed. "You know you don't have to lie to us."

I tensed. _Don't blow your cover Judy..._ "What are you talking about?" I asked.

Fangmeyer let out a breath and put his paws together. "You don't eat fish and your accent's off. You aren't from the woodlands."

I looked away. "I... Uh..."

And now it was time to come up with a lie.

Believe it or not, I wasn't terrible at that. Hang around Nick Wilde long enough and you can become a master of the art.

Still, it was a sucker's game. The less you lied, the less you had a chance to get caught and the easier any lie you told was to make consistent.

So I sighed, and I told him a tiny chunk of the truth. "Bunnyburrow. I grew up in Bunnyburrow."

Fangmeyer raised an eyebrow. "Okay, not many wolves from those parts, but why would you lie about that?"

"Because my relationship wasn't just cross." I returned. "It was pred/prey. I fell in love with a rabbit."

Fangmeyer looked like he'd been stabbed in the heart. He stared at me like I was a lost kitten with a broken leg. "And you thought we wouldn't help you if you told us?"

I bit my lip. "When people find out your cross... They don't exactly." I looked down, honestly and completely lacking anything to say. "It's a rough world out there."

The white wolf walked up to me, kneeling down before me. "You don't have to worry about any of that shit here. Here you're safe. Don't ever forget that."

I blinked, having no idea what to say. Nick, turning up his mask to 11, coughed. "Okay, so... Veggie sushi for the lady?"

I smiled. "Yes, please."

Nick started dialing in the order and I found myself staring at Fangmeyer, who was nonchalantly sitting there trying not to stare at me.

He didn't look like he was disgusted though... It looked like he wanted to tell me something.

That train of thought was interrupted when we heard a knock on the door. The white wolf turned to the fox. "Probably Francine, one second. I'll be right back. But if it's those weirdoes with the swords I want you two to bolt out the back exit. It's just down the hall from the kitchen, okay?"

Nick gave the wolf a nod and I heard his heart quicken, just a little. Fangmeyer went to the door and looked through the peephole. He let out a sigh of relief and opened it up. "Wolford! How goes it? I didn't know you were assigned protection detail."

Our grey wolf coworker (what was it with all the wolves recently?) stepped in and gave us a wave. "Hi there Greg! I'm actually here for a pickup."

Nick raised an eyebrow. Fangmeyer looked equally lost. "A pickup, what are you talking about?"

The grey wolf scratched at the back of his neck and turned to Wolford. "Oh... You know, Francine kind of complained about having to protect a witness in your flat and such, so the chief sent me over. He shot me a nervous smile. "Hi Miss Howler, I'm Officer Wolford. I'm here to transport you to a proper ZPD safehouse."

I blinked. Something about this felt... Off.

_I smell fear..._

Fangmeyer smiled. "Well, that's good news. Let me get my coat real fast, Wilde and I will join you."

Wolford flinched. "What? Oh, don't worry about it Greg, It's just a few blocks away, we'll be fine."

Okay, that clinched it. Something was definitely wrong here. I felt my heart racing, but oddly enough I felt more anger than fear.

Nick got up. Paw leaning just a little closer to his sidearm. "You know Wolford, the Chief never called ahead..."

I could smell sweat forming on the Grey Wolf's neck. He forced a smile. "What? Wow! I mean, that Bogo... I guess he just... Just..." He sighed, his whole body deflating. "Okay, I can't do this."

He put a paw to his face, let out a breath, and turned to me, his voice horrifyingly hollow. "Hopps, I have a silver knife on me. I'll give you a tiny cut. Then you can bite me, wipe your blood in the wound and kill me before this nightmare can get any worse."

Nick pulled out his gun. "Don't you fucking move!"

Fangmeyer's eyes widened, darting back and forth between the fox and the other wolf. "Wha- Danny, what the hell is going on here!?"

I stared at Officer Wolford, friend and colleague... He didn't look scared or angry or anything else. Just defeated and very, very tired.

"It will transfer the curse." He said to me. "There's only one demon Hopps, and it moves through defensive wounds." He spread out his arms, patient. "You put it in me and take me out and this is all over. So hurry up and do it already. We only have a few minutes before the cavalry get here.  

Okay, _now_ I was scared. "Wha- What are you talking about?"

He closed his eyes. "I'm prioritizing Judy. You and I both know damn well that the world needs Judy Hopps way more than some idiot named Wolford. Now hurry up and do the deed before more than one person needs to die."

 


	4. The Good Guys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yet more questions. Maybe some answers too.

Nick pulled back the hammer on his pistol, sheerly for the intimidation factor. "Start talking. Now."

Wolford sighed. "Nick, I'm ready to die, the gun is meaningless."

Nick kept his aim steady. "Yeah, sure, since when are you a crazed Zealot?"

He pointed to me. "Since one of the things in Judy forced me to kill my sister."

The room went silent.

Fangmeyer raised his hand. "Could someone please tell me what the hell is going on?"

I groaned. In for a penny, in for a heap of trouble. "Hi Fangmeyer, I'm actually Judy. You know, Judy Hopps from work? I turned into a wolf, and now there's an evil voice in my head and a bunch of wolves with swords are trying to kill me for some reason."

_ I am not evil! We raided to give our village food and shelter you naive child! _

"Okay, now it's saying it's not evil."

"Oh it's definitely evil." Wolford returned.

_ Wait, I had a village? _

The white wolf looked like he was about to have an aneurysm. "What the... are you all on drugs?"

"Not going to lie, I'm kinda hoping that's the case." Nick mumbled. "Gotta say though, worst. Trip. Ever."

This was getting us nowhere. I approached Wolford, with murder in my eyes. "What do you know Wolford?"

The grey wolf met my gaze, evenly. "I know what that thing will do to you. It starts small,  especially if you're prey, though it's rarer a prey animal gets possessed. The demons like warriors. They don't move in unless you make their last host bleed. You're a werewolf Judy Hopps." He let out a breath, steeling himself. "But you don't have to stay that way."

I stared at him. "Werewolves? That's your story? I'm a-" I paused, considering my situation. "Okay, actually that makes as much sense as anything else that's happened today. Go on."

Wolford continued. "It starts with irritation, growling, prodding from the voice. It will get louder and louder until all you can do is tear your friends apart to make it stop and pretty soon... There won't be anything left of you. You won't be an animal anymore, just a snarling beast, consumed by rage." He looked down, a wistful look on his muzzle. "You'll want everyone you ever loved to die Judy. And you'll have enough magic coursing through your veins that it'll take an army to stop you. And for the record, we don't really have one of those anymore."

"Who is we?" I demanded. "Are you telling me you've been  _ crooked _ this whole time? Who's paying you? What investigations have you sold out! Who are you!" I felt another growl building in my throat. He'd betrayed everything the police stood for, I... I... 

I shook myself, suddenly aware of my spiking temper. I took a step back, and a deep breath. "I am in control... I am not going to hurt anyone. Period. Now, answer the questions."

Wolford grew the faintest of smiles. "Always knew you had an iron will Judy." He frowned. "But it won't last. You have a week, tops, of slow mental degeneration and physical augmentation before there will be nothing left of the noble Judy Hopps... But it doesn't have to go down that way." He held out a paw. "Please, I'm begging you, let me take the fall for this one. If nothing else, you have a family to go back to. I don't."

He sounded completely serious. My mind was racing. What the hell was happening? I needed a plan.

Okay, so first off there was no way I was killing Wol-

Nick sighed, lowering his gun. "He's right Judy, we need to do this."

Fangmeyer stared at the fox like he'd just walked out of a mental institution with a foaming mouth, wearing an orderly's bloody pelt. " _ What!? _ "

The fox turned to me. "You hear things on the street Judy. These things are real, and we've got to act fast. I'm dead serious Judy, it's just like Jumbeaux's."

My eyes widened. "Oh... Oh god you're right."

Fangmeyer's face was a study. He eyed each mammal in turn, trying to find some rhyme or reason to what was happening around him. Finally he grit his teeth. "Okay, this has gone on for long enough. No one is killing any-" 

Nick turned his gun on the white wolf. Fangmeyer froze.

Nick held his weapon steady, a pained look in his eyes. "I'm sorry Fangmeyer. You're a good cop. Too good for what has to be done here. Just stay right there, maybe look away. You won't want to see this.”

Fangmeyer eyed the gear on his belt, the gears in his head clearly turning.

The Fox shook his head. "Don't do anything stupid Fangsy. Now, Wolford, you said this stuff turns preds faster than prey?"

The grey wolf nodded, clearly relieved by this turn of events. "A lot faster."

Nick nodded. "Then we'll want to get some restraints on you before we do the transfer. Judy, grab my cuffs and his. Hands and feet. Make sure you throw on a muzzle too."

I nodded, snatching the gear off the predators' belts. Wolford put his hands behind his back and his legs together. He even helped me slip on the muzzle when the time came.

When he was restrained, The grey wolf nodded. "Okay, that'll hold for a few seconds at least. Now grab the knife from my belt."

Instead, I took his entire belt off, knife, pistol, baton and all.

The grey wolf blinked. "Okay, I guess that's one way to do-"

Nick put his gun away. "Right then. Sorry Fangsey, had to make that look good."

The white wolf stared at the fox for a moment... And then he smiled. "God damnit Wilde, you beautiful  bastard."

The disarmed, completely restrained wolf's jaw would have hit the floor if he didn't have a muzzle holding it in place. "You... You hustled me!?"

My favorite fox smirked. "It's kinda what I do, sweetie."

Wolford immediately started struggling, only managing to topple himself to the floor and writhe around a bit while emitting a steady stream of muffled curses.

The fox turned to the white wolf. "So, you want to call this one in or should I?"

Fangmeyer shot him a very strained grin. "I think I'll let you handle the paperwork you cheeky bastard. We're going to have a long talk about you pulling your standard issue on me later." He turned to me. "So, I'm guessing you're actually one of Wilde's old friends. Care to explain what the hell is going on?"

I considered for a moment how I could have told the truth and somehow still be mired in a tangled web of lies. "Well... That's not totally-"

There was a crunch, then a click.

My hearing had improved drastically when all this stuff had started, but I was still getting the hang of telling where distant, echoing sounds were coming from.

This crunch was closer, painfully close. It was a tiny thing, but its implications were terrifying. 

I turned to Wolford. His lips were sealed shut and he was clearly shifting his tongue. 

I rushed over to him and tore the muzzle off, then pried his mouth open.

Sure enough, he'd popped out a tooth.

And now that tooth was blinking.

I heard several cars pull up outside.

My eyes widened. "Oh shit. Incoming!" I snatched out the tracer lightning fast and crushed it before Wolford could even close his mouth.

I strapped on Wolford's gear belt, more out of reflex than anything else, and drew his gun. "I hear ten hostiles outside. We need a plan!"

The ZPD is not technically a military organization, but damn do we fall into line when someone barks orders at us. Nick and Greg got into cover by the windows.I  tipped a curtain and took a peek outside for a threat assessment...

Assessment: We had pistols and dry wall cover.

They had assault rifles and military grade body armor.

I closed the curtains instantly. "Okay, we've got to run. Here's the-"

I was about to spout out what I'm sure would have been a brilliant, completely original plan that would have solved all of our problems, but I was interrupted by yet another unexpected sound, this one much less subtle.

I chanced another peek outside to see an absolute monster of a vehicle careen down the street. It looked like the bastard offspring of an Abram's tank and a bulldozer and it was moving faster than an Indy 500.

Out of this frightening metal giant's window burst a humongous muscled arm holding what looked like an artillery piece, which promptly started raining a hail of what appeared to be grenades all around our assailants.

A huge burst of teargas filled the air outside and our terrifying savior made a sharp drifting turn and charged Wolford's house.

The demonic machine that was the ZPD High Threat Response Vehicle literally smashed a hole in the side of Fangmeyer's living room with a sickening crunch.

This had all happened in about two seconds.

The elephant driver swung open the behemoth's massive door. She let out an enraged trumpet and glared daggers at us all. "Get the  _ fuck _ in!" She shouted.

Nick was the first one to get his voice back. "Yes Ma'am Francine."

#

“Well Greg I hope you’re fucking happy!” Francine said as we rocketed out of Fangmeyer’s front yard. The elephant was practically twitching. “Oh look at me, I’m Greg Fangmeyer I drag gang violence into the suburbs! Aren’t I a great guy?”

“Damnit! We’re not a gang! We’re the good guys!” Wolford shouted.

Why I’d thrown him in the back I couldn’t tell you.

Francine groaned, making a very sharp turn down a nearby street. “Whatever you say Wolfy.” She snatched up her radio, and pressed the button, a hiss of jammed static filled the air. “Fuck… You know Greg, somehow ‘I told you so’ doesn’t cut it.”

Greg threw out his arms . “How the hell was I supposed to know this would happen!”

“He does have a point there Franny.” Nick mentioned as he eyed the unmarked sedans chasing our tails.

The elephant grunted, spinning the car around and darting backwards through the line of very confused pursuers. “Okay, granted, this is  _ weird _ , but you totally violated procedure and you had to know something was wrong. This is just like those foxes on fifth avenue.”

“I thought they were girl scouts! I just gave them a lift!” The white wolf snapped defensively. 

“Yes,” Francine returned. “But when we found out they were actually drug pushing Fennecs, who had to clean up the mess? Oh, that’s right! Me! Just like I’m doing right fucking-”

The bulletproof windows on the car’s rear sprouted a number of cracks as bullets slammed against them. 

Francine sighed. “Take the wheel.”

Fangmeyer grabbed it and Francine leaned her grenade launcher out the window, lobbing a meaty projectile right through one of the pursuer’s windshields.

The chasing car careened to a stop as its drivers struggled to breathe, slowing down the other pursuers as they juked to avoid it.

Francine took the wheel back. “Greg, you do get why we have rules about shit like this right? It’s to prevent crazy ass collateral damage like that! Seriously! Do you know how much paperwork I’m going to have to fill out for shooting a moving car? Do you know how fucking dangerous that was?”

_ I like this creature, she has a warrior’s... spirit...  _

“Shut up voice!” I shouted as what looked like half of Zootopia shot by us in a blur. I was being shot at and betrayed, and I just did not have any patience for her anymore.

_ I don’t take… take… Ugh… You know you have startlingly little riastarthae, you need to work on that. _

“What in the name of cheese and crackers  is Riastarthe?” I snapped. I was getting way past tired of the voice’s bullshit… Okay that was racist, I felt bad for even thinking it. If Mom was here she’d be washing my mouth out with soap.

The elephant shot Fangmeyer a nasty look. “Oh! So you didn’t just grab a random wolf being pursued by gangs, you picked a  _ mentally ill _ random wolf being pursued by gangs. You sure can pick ‘em Greg.”

Fangmeyer growled back at his partner. “Okay, seriously Francine, I’ve had-”

“Turn here!” Nick shouted, pointing to an old subway entrance. “I know a place we can lose them.”

Francine careened to the left and smashed through the barricades guarding the condemned  tube in front of us.

Unfortunately, the elephant was forced to slam on the brakes as a large wall of fallen rock appeared in front of us almost instantly.

Francine threw up her arms. “Great plan Wilde, now we’re sitting- Where are you going?”

Nick had hopped out the window. He kicked over a rock and threw a switch.

The ground beneath us shifted and our car began to roll down a sudden dirt ramp. Francine managed to slam on the break and Nick scampered behind us as we found ourself in an old, poorly lit dugout of some kind. 

Nick clambered down after us and threw a switch on the wall, sealing the hidden door behind us.

In the dim, flickering light, the fox sighed. “Thank god for mole smugglers… Francine, kill the engine! We’ve got to be quiet!”

Francine killed the engine. The headlights went with it and the room went black. 

Nick climbed back inside and I held Wolford’s muzzle shut.

For a moment, everything was silent.

We heard other cars coming in above us, slowing to a halt. Various barked orders were exchanged and slowly, after what felt like hours hiding in the dark, they left.

It was probably only minutes. An army that size would have to draw ZPD notice.

Of course, I didn’t know how compromised the ZPD was.

_ Ugh… Judy, _ the voice came. _ That ride was quite tense. I don’t have much left. Need to rest... _

I raised an eyebrow.  _ What does that mean? _

“Are they gone?” Francine whispered to Wilde. 

The fox shrugged. “I don’t hear them. This had to be a hit and run though. That kind of firepower moving around would need to vanish fast.”

“Okay,” The elephant nodded. “Then I think it’s long past time time you explained to us what exactly is going on. Personally I have a lot of que-”

I choked. My vision swam and I let go of Wolford as a cracking, horrible sensation filled my body.

“Judy!” Nick cried, grabbing a hold of me.

I barely even registered him for the pain and the disorientation. The world was getting bigger, huge even and I… I…

I blinked, opening my eyes and seeing my reflection in his. My real reflection.

I also noted my pants had fallen off, so we were all enjoying that.

The entire car stared at me.

“T-that just raises further questions!” Francine cried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that was really hard to write. Special thanks to PullTogether on reddit for being a beta reader and... Well, pulling this together.


	5. Orders

I felt at my face. Oh god it was real! I was a bunny again!

I found myself grinning from ear to ear. My hoodie was just a giant robe and pants were a dim memory, but who cared! I was me!

"YES!!!" I cried, pumping my fist in the air.

If anything that just made the staring from the rest of the car intensify.

I blinked. "Uh... Hi guys. Um... So... Yeah, I was a werewolf for a bit there, but I think I'm better now?"

"No. You're not." Wolford interjected.

Every mammal in the car turned to him. The grey wolf just sighed. "Judy, I'm glad you're in remission, but it's just a matter of time before you turn back, and when you do your mental state worse."

I slipped out of Nick's grip and hopped over to the wolf, yanking him down to face me. The wolf was completely unphased, just like always. It was really starting to really get on my nerves.

I grit my teeth. "Wolford, do you have anything else you can tell us about my condition other than depressing doomsaying? I don't know, some cheerful anecdotes? Maybe a _cure_?"

Okay, _that_ got a rise out of him. "I already told you Judy, the cure is you putting it in someone else and then killing them. If you recall, I offered to sacrifice myself for you and all I got for it was chained!" He rattled his handcuffs for emphasis.

I felt my fur raise up, I couldn't remember the last time I'd felt this... _furious_ with someone. "That wasn't how it started though, was it? You were planning to take me away weren't you? Take your colleague, your _friend_ out and just kill her in the back of your car..." I felt my paw forming a fist. "Isn't that right, Wolfy?"

Francine reached shaky a hand over to my shoulder. "Judy..."

I slapped it away.

The elephant's hand, an object nearly twice my size, shot out to the side and slammed against the wall of the APC, hard. Francine let out a cry of pain.

I turned to her, all the rage draining in an instant. "Francine!"

I hopped over to the elephant, now clutching at her hand and staring at me. Words just started spilling out of my mouth. "Oh god, I'm so sorry, I didn't know that would happen, and I shouldn't have done that anyway and I..."

She held up the hand. "It's okay Hopps... No real damage done." The hand was rough, and shaking more than a little, but whole. The elephant forced on a confident smirk.  "Not going to lie, that was pretty scary though. I mean, I know you're tough and all, but that..." Her smile was growing more strained by the second.

I looked down at my paws. "I... I'm sorry." I had no idea what had happened there. I had no idea what any of this meant.

But my temper was getting worse. That much was certain. Could Wolford be right? Was I going to turn into some sort of monster. Was I going to-

"Carrots." Came a voice.

I turned to see Nick Wilde looking down at me. There was no fear in his eyes, only warmth. He held out a paw. "You are going to be okay. You are Judy Hopps, and you will never hurt the people you care about. And for the record? That's everyone."

He said it with perfect assurance. He really believed in me, much, much more than I'd ever believed in myself.

Just like  that the tears started flowing. I'd been holding them back for far too long. I ran up to him and hugged him, just sobbing like a baby. My body was wrong, my mind was wrong, my friends were wrong... It was too much. It was all way too much.

When the tears dried up, Nick turned to the rest of the car. Still holding me tight. "We need a game plan."

Fangmeyer let out a breath. "What we need is backup, which would be easier to get if the ZPD wasn't compromised. We're in way, way over our heads here Wilde... " The white wolf buried his face in his paws. "I can't believe there was a secret organization hiding out right under our noses and we never even suspected."

Wolford let out a sad chuckle. "Don't beat yourself up Greg, we don't really do much aside from passing along rumors. Besides, we've been dancing around Bogo for decades, it's not like we don't have practice."

My ears perked up. "Wait a second. You're saying is _the Chief_ isn't with you?"

The grey wolf's ears flattened. "What? No! I mean-" He sighed, visibly drooping. "Damn it..."

#

Getting Bogo on Muzzletime was surprisingly easy. Nick had apparently filched his personal number a while ago. "Being designated driver has its privileges." He explained. The rest was just luck and the nightmarish abuse of officers of the law that was the (admittedly occasional) 24 hour shift.

The APC's computer screen blinked to life and the image of the buffalo winked on. "Officer Pennington? Where have you been? There's been an all out gang war going on! I expect my officers to-"

Francine held up her hands, now much more steady. "Sir, I can explain, in fact I can explain in _video_. I'm sending you a file right now. Keep it quiet, we have reason to believe there may be moles in the ZPD."

Bogo balked. "What!? Officer that is a serious accusation!"

The elephant sighed. "I don't want to believe it any more than you do sir, but the evidence is strong. Please, just watch the video. With earbuds ideally. There's a written report to go with it."

The Bogo considered her words, then sighed. "If this is a prank Pennington, it will cost you your badge. I'll call back in a moment."

It was more than a moment, it was 20 agonizing minutes during which the entirety of the car was more or less silent and we prayed the dash cams sold our story. Nick looked like he wanted to crack a joke a few times, but the atmosphere was too tense for even his sense of comedic timing.

When Bogo Called back he looked more than haunted. There were donut crumbs on his desk. That was never a good sign. "Please God tell me this is a prank."

"It... Wouldn't be very funny sir." Nick replied.

Bogo took off his glasses. He suddenly looked very, very old. "You know, I was really hoping when I had to pry out plants from the Big Syndicate it would be the last time I had to deal with turncoats."

Wolford, still restrained in the back of the car, spoke up. "Sir! I am not a turn coat, and neither is anyone else in the department. The only thing we care about is keeping people sa-"

The cheif shot the wolf a look that could melt steel. "Bring him over." He said. His voice was cool. Calculating even.

It chilled me more than any time he'd screamed.

Francine reached back and carried the grey wolf forward.

Wolford did not struggle. For the first time since he'd revealed himself, Wolford looked scared. "S-Sir..." He managed.

"Officer Wolford," Bogo began. "You are hereby relieved of duty pending investigation into your actions and association with criminal elements."

"Sir I-"

"Shut. The Fuck. Up." Our chief returned. "Whatever excuse you had about 'the greater good' or whatever asinine nonsense those monsters fed you can wait. I trusted you, and you used that trust to aid an organization that tried to _murder_ one of my officers. Now, I know how your kind works, so I'm not going to bother with the usual interrogation tactics, but I want you to think long and hard about whether your badge actually meant anything the next time you open your muzzle." The Chief turned to the Elephant in front of him. "Put him back Pennington."

Francine picked up the stunned, broken wolf with her trunk and placed him gently back in the rear of the car. Her expression was very tight. Still, she forced an extremely uneasy smile and turned back to the screen. "Sir, not that the ZPD being compromised isn't absolutely horrifying, I'm right there with you, but I have to ask: aren't you a little more concerned about, you know, _Hopps being a freaking Werewolf!_ " Her composure had disintegrated somewhat at the end there. Honestly I couldn't blame her.

Fangmeyer put a comforting paw on his partner's side and turned to the phone. "I have to say chief, that is pretty damn world shattering. I'm kind of still not convinced this isn't an acid trip."

The buffalo gave out a grim snort. "Likewise. Still racist fairy tales aren't something I know how to deal with, so I'm focusing on what I can. I'm going to make some calls to internal affairs. Meanwhile I have three good officers and that's a start."

"Four sir." I was sick and tired of...

I noticed my anger and forced it down. The cheif wasn't ignoring me, there was just a lot going on. It was the truth. Period.

The chief sighed. His expression was genuinely sympathetic. "Hopps, you're hurt. You were on medical leave before and that hasn't changed just because the form of your injury has." The buffalo shifted his jaw, considering. "Still, I know you and no matter what I tell you you're not going to let this rest... Alright, you want an assignment? here it is. You are hereby tasked with figuring out what the hell this magical nonsense is and how it changes our operations. I shall expect a report and a briefing as soon as reasonably possible and I want you too keeping as far off the streets as you can while you do it. And I swear to god if you complain to me about not letting you tear out there and bring me all of these bastard's heads." He blinked, turning away for a moment. "I honestly couldn't blame you. But we are servants of the peace Hopps, and right now what we need to keep it is information." His expression softened. "Also, if you do have any reason to believe you are... Compromised," He let out a breath. "Just stay safe, and stay alive."

And the shivers just kept coming. I shot him a salute. "Yes sir."

He then moved on to logistical. "Is your current location secure?"

Nick shook his head. "They'll probably come by and comb the spot pretty soon. I know a place we can lay low though."

The chief nodded. "Good. Stay secure until I can arrange an interview with the obvious lead. Keep the line open and I'll contact you when I have something."

None of us knew what to make of that. Fangmeyer raised his hand. "Uh... Sir? What obvious lead."

The chief grew a wry smile. "This is why they pay me the intermediate bucks. You ran into a wolf paramilitary organization concerned with animals going savage and not one of you flat foots made the connection..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well now our gang is starting to get back on track. Stay tuned!


	6. Lovers

Francine knocked, and a bespectacled skunk with a clip board opened the door to the old studio, eyeing us up and down.

She nodded, speaking with a curt Purrusian accent. "Good to see you already in costume. Except for you girl," She said pointing her pen at me.

I blinked, clutching my oversized hoodie to my chest in the cold night air. "Huh?"

The skunk rolled her eyes. "We don't start rehearsal naked. That is the whole point. Now, come inside and I'll give you a spare costume, but you need to hurry up in the dressing room! I swear girl, if you want to be on stage you have to learn to-"

Her eyes widened.

But she wasn't looking at me anymore. Her eyes were locked on Nick.

Nick's ears flattened. He forced a smile. "K-Katya! Hi... Funny bumping into you here huh?"

"OH HELL NO!!!" The skunk cried, face contorted in rage. She marched right up the fox and shoved a finger to his chest. "You think you  can just show up here after six years and pick up right where things left off? I don't care how much money you owe! I am not giving you a job, end of discussion!"

I blinked, lost and slightly entertained by the scene in front of me.

The others were just as lost. Fangmeyer raised a paw. "Uh... Nick? What is she talking about?"

The fox tugged at his collar. "Heh. Well, you see..." He turned to the van behind us with a murderous glare. "Finnick, you call this a safe house?!"

The fennec fox at the wheel shook his head. "You've been putting this off way too long Nicky, two birds, one stone."

That said, he threw on his shades and pulled out of the parking lot, blasting metal and leaving us all behind.

I was very, very lost.

The skunk was twitching. "Leave." She said simply.

"Nick!" Came a voice from behind her.

A somewhat chunky Badger burst out from behind the skunk and wrapped Nick in a hug. "You're really here! I have so much to tell you about the sheep controlled werewolf conspiracy!"

There was a long, long pause.

Fangmeyer, still clutching Wolford by the handcuffs, cleared his throat. "I vote we talk this out inside. All in favor?"

#

So, about five minutes later (after the badger found me a pair of old sweat pants) we were all sitting around a hastily thrown up card table in a worn down, but clearly well loved dance studio. The studio had the advantage of being big enough to fit our favorite elephant, even if we couldn't find her a chair.

Said officer  put her hands together and let out a breath. "Okay, first there's something we have to clear up. Nick," She turned to my partner with a frankly evil smirk. "You were a _stripper_?"

Katya shot her a look that could melt steel. "Do you have a problem with performers?"

The elephant's ears flattened. "What? N... No! I just." Francine groaned. "Look it's been a long day. Can't I just make fun of Nick a little? I need some levity."

The skunk stirred at her tea. "For working the pole? No. This is my house and you will respect my profession while you're in it." She looked thoughtful for a moment. "But, if you wanted to mock Nicky Dickie for his choice of stage name..."

The fox gulped. Francine grinned. "We are going to be such good friends."

Nick groaned. "Katya, seriously? Is that how it's going to be?"

She turned her death glare on right on the fox. "What? You expect me to be _civil_ about this Nicky? You show up on my doorstep with half the ZPD and a sob story and expect me to just roll over and do whatever you want?" She turned back to the table at large. "I have rights you know! This is a legal business and while I have invited you into a public area that does not give you the right to tromp through all of-"

Fangmeyer held up his paw and gave her an apologetic look. "Ma'am, we are very sorry to intrude. We had an informant who said you could provide us with safe harbor. This isn't a raid."

Katya snorted, "Pardon me for not having much faith in a group of fascists who showed up with the world's biggest asshole in tow."

Nick planted his head on the table. "I swear, I'm not the world's biggest asshole! I can explain!"

The skunk twitched. "Really Nick? You can _explain?_ " _You_ seduced me, then shaved my ass and vanished into the night!" She slammed her fist into the table for emphasis. "Seriously! What the hell was that!?"

Several pieces of the puzzle fell into place. I smiled at the realization. "That makes so much sense!"

Katya stared at me. "How? How does that make any sense at all?"

Nick whimpered. "Katya I swear, I had a good reason... Plus you totally consented to the butt shaving thing."

"I thought you were being _kinky_!" She snapped.

Nick rubbed at his temples. "Look... I'm not going to pretend I wasn't an idiot, or that I didn't mislead you, but I had a damn good reason."

The Skunk's claws dug into the table. "Nick..." She let out a breath and shook her head. "I know about your little weaving project... It was the stupidest plan I've ever heard and it just made things worse."

Nick suddenly looked very, very old. "I had to do something." He said weakly.

Katya shook her head. "That's your problem Nicky. You think like a knight and you fight like... a con artist."

She  got up and turned away. "I don't turn out people who need help. And I know you didn't come here to tear off old scabs... You can sleep here tonight. We'll talk about the rest tomorrow."

The badger got up, putting a paw on her shoulder. "Kat..."

The skunk turned to the badger with a tired smile on her face. "Stay with your idiot friends Med. Right now your Kat needs to be alone."

That said, she gave the badger a peck on the lips and walked out of the studio.

Or started to. At the last moment she turned back. "I loved her too Nick."

Then she was gone.

_#_

Francine's back hit the floor hard enough to send a ripple through the dance mats. "I don't know about all of you, but I am flat up out of juice."

It was about half an hour later, blankets had been retrieved and Nick and Honey (Our host's lover) were having long conversations in the corner. It apparently involved quite a lot of folklore and speculation on what I'd become.

I knew I should have been listening, maybe providing support or helpful anecdotes, but... Honestly I was with Francine. I was dead on my feet.

Wolford had been bedded down and chained to a rail. He hadn't objected. In fact, he hadn't said anything at all since his one sided conversation with the chief.

As for Fangmeyer, he was keeping watch, the gears clearly grinding away in his head as he tried to make sense of all this.

I struggled to get comfortable on the mats. Francine raised an eyebrow. "You want a heated seat? I wouldn't object to company after a day this crazy."

I blinked at the elephant, suddenly feeling more exposed than when I was naked. "Uhh..."

The elephant rolled her eyes. "Judy, you are a hot, tough girl, but at our size difference hitting on you would literally be crazy."

I blushed even harder. "So you _do_ like girls."

Francine groaned. "Yes, I like girls, any jokes about how butch I am and I'll kick your ass."

I snorted. "If it makes you feel any better, I experimented plenty in college."

"Huh." The elephant returned. "What were the results?"

I shrugged. "I'm about a 1.5 on the Kinsey scale?"

She snorted. "Way to say your bicurious in the most nerdy way possible." She lowered her hoof, putting it at an angle that was easy to climb. "C'mon you fair weather rug muncher, let me show you the incredibly sexy speck of dust on an ocean liner position."

I climbed on top of her. She was indeed warm, and softer than the floor.

And there were stargazing hills in Bunnyburrow smaller than her. Life in Zootopia was _weird_.

A massive finger stroked my ear. "It's gonna be okay, we're the ZPD, the good guys... Plus our chaperone will ensure your chastity."

Fangmeyer snorted, still watching the windows. "Don't you forget it."

The elephant snickered, switching to a much too loud whisper. "Don't worry, we'll ditch him later, girls night out and 200 rounds on the shooting range when this is all over. My treat."

I yawned. "Sounds great." And then, finally, I felt safe enough to sleep.

#

I woke up around midnight. The warm elephant beneath me was so massive and I was so tiny she didn't even notice when I stirred.

I slid down, woozy, uncertain on my feet. They felt different... Of course they did.

The white wolf shot me a questioning glance, but I held up a paw. I had someone else to find.

He was off in a far corner of the massive room, dozing in his bedroll. I shook his shoulder, not certain how hard he'd be to wake.

The red fox blinked at me. "What's wrong?"

I snorted. "Nothing, I just..." I let out a breath, sitting down against the wall. "Okay, that's a lie. Things have been a bit mad recently. I need someone to talk to. Do you mind?"

He shook his head, "Of course not." He gripped my paw. "You know I'm always here for you."

I smiled. I even felt a little flutter in my heart. I think I understood it now.

I shook my head, looking away. "I don't know what's happening to me. I feel drained, but pissed. Strong, but weak... And..." I felt a shiver run down my spine. "My thoughts are muddled. My memories... This isn't how it's supposed to work."

I gulped. "I'm scared Nick. I'm really, really scared."

He blinked at me, recognition slowly dawning. "You're not Judy are you?"

I shook my head, feeling tears building up in my bizarre rabbit eyes. "No... I wish I was though. She has wonderful friends." I bit my lip. "I think all of mine are dead."

I hugged my legs to my chest, suppressing a shiver. "I think I might be too."


	7. The Skald and the Reindeer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Note: This is inspired by, but not a perfect historical representation of any culture. I did my best.

_Hundreds of Years Ago..._

Skalds need a lot of things to spin a good tale. The first and foremost is the ability to hold their mead.

The far too tipsy fox vaugely pointed at a line on the page. "See? Here's where the... It says Moses parted the red sea and... And..." He blinked.

I muddled my way through the hebrew, clawing what I could into a bark strip. "And now he's giving a speech... Again." I raised an eyebrow at the little red man. "You know, for someone who burnt his tongue so badly he sure talks a lot."

The tiny Jew glared at me. "This is the holy writ of god!"

I eyed him smugly over my tankard and took a sip. "Sure."

I know, I know, I was treading dangerous ground. Mixing mead with religion was a sure fire way to start a fight at the best of times. And when your drinking partner had a different creed...

Fortunately Herschel was the easygoing type, and Astrid came to my rescue shortly. The gorgeous reindeer with the silken white coat plopped down a plate of absolutely sumptuous smelling roast chicken and turnips on bread trenchers in front of us. She smiled at the fox. "I know you're feeling better Herschel, but you should eat. One needs to keep up their strength."

Another reason it was good that Herschel was so easy going and friendly was that winter had sealed him in after a hard fever had delayed his return. Now he was stuck with us pagans for a while.

He sniffed at the offered food and smiled. "Astrid you are an artist! Is that the pepper I smell?"

The reindeer smiled. "Indeed it is. You know I must place a larger order next time, the Jarl is very pleased with his new meals."

The fox shook his head. "Bah,  so many people in my travels insist on piling pepper to the roof, scalding the flavor away in hot pans or using such faint whispers you can't even taste it." He took the peppered chicken leg in his paw and bit down, eyes closing as he savored the flavor. "But the way you use it... Oh it's just delightful."

She shot him a flirtatious smile. "You know, if you bought my freedom you could have that cooking in your home every night."

"Among other things." I added, winking and drawing Astrid's hoof close, running a claw sensually down her wrist.

The trader winced. Suddenly it felt like all levity had been drained from the great hall. "I'm sorry. You know I can't do that... God forgive me for even being here."

My expression fell. I felt Astrid's hoof tighten its grip and I gripped back. I bit my lip. "I know we've talked about it before, but seriously. It would work. We would even follow your God."

The merchant sighed, eyeing his dinner ruefully. "I know your intentions are good, but trust me. It wouldn't be right, for so many reasons I can't even count them."

I had to admit, my heart fell hearing that, right along with my ears and my lover's.

Foxes were not my type. In fact I wasn't sure I'd found a type other than Astrid...

But Herschel was a good man. He wasn't like those other red wool shagging Westerners. He defended his own faith, but he never mocked ours. He had plenty of gold... And he was kind.

You couldn't ask for more than that from a man.

"Why don't we just continue with the language lesson?" I said, attempting to defuse the tension.

He shook his head, but he managed a bitter smile. "A few more hours of 'language lessons' with you and I won't have any morals left. Is your uncle awake?"

I sighed and shook my head. "He's sleeping."

He shrugged. "Oh well, give him my best. Have a good night miss Astrid." He took hold of his trencher and got to his feet, somewhat unstably. "And Sigrid... I'll see you tomorrow." That said he stumbled off. "They are good women God." He muttered as he left. "Please forgive their sins."

Sometimes I regretted how sharp my ears were. I let out a sigh and started stacking up the bark strips in front of me. Hebrew was meant to be written with a pen, and I couldn't say my claw strokes were elegant, but I was getting better. Soon I'd be able to put my ballads on stone, maybe even compose a saga or two on traded paper.

Perhaps preservation of his greatness in the physical would be enough for Jarl Fair fur to grant me another arm band. I only needed... Sweet Odin, four more.

Astrid put a hoof on my shoulder. I leaned into it. Feeling its press on my cheek. Oh blessed Valhalla, to stay like this forever...

She had obligations, as did I. Our time together was always cruelly short.

The doe frowned. "I'm sorry. I know what you're going to say. I shouldn't have pressed him."

I groaned, pulling her down to the bench and nuzzling her. "Asty it's okay, it's not like we don't have other prospects. I might even be able to scrape enough together to buy your freedom myself soon." I forced a smile.

She shook her head at the obvious lie. "Five gold arm bands won't fall from the sky, and the Jarl will never let you go raiding. Your uncle is too precious."

I took her hoof in my hand and pulled it close in a promise. "We will get you out of here. I swear on my life."

She smiled. It was sad, but real. "I know you will. " She pulled her hoof away. "Keep warm. The Jarl will expect me back with his mead." That said, she turned tail and marched off, serving tray in hoof.

I watched her go, eyeing the brand burned into her neck with renewed hatred.

It wasn't fair. Astrid was a proud and capable Norsewoman, so what if she was a deer? If the by blow of a drunken raider like me got to be free why didn't she?

Of course, the answer to that was obvious. I had Uncle Ivar, that and deft harper's claws... but mostly Uncle Ivar.

I sighed and took a long draught of my mead. I wasn't going to get much more done tonight. It was unlikely I'd be called upon as Gudrun had his flute out and the whole Mead Hall was listening keenly to his musical mediocrity.

I tapped idly on the table top, drumming out the beat to a saga no one would ever tell, about the love between a stupid red wolf and a goddess with antlers.

I probably would have spent the whole night eating chicken and mumbling rhymes under my breath, but I was not three stanzas in before the door to the hall burst open.

A ruckus overtook the entire building. The village had gathered themselves against the deep winter chill, so it could only be one wolf.

Ranveig the Eagle Eyed looked like he'd just seen the dead rise up. "They're coming!" He shouted. "The Red Wools are just over the rise!"

Jarl Fair Fur slammed his axe into his table, snuffing out the inevitable panic before it began. He rose to his feet, the white muzzled warrior still tall and strong. "How many?"

Ranveig gulped. Not two days ago he'd been telling me how mad the Jarl was for posting a winter watch. "At least a hundred strong... They have traitors with them."

A hushed whisper ran through the hall at that. Even Herschel had cause to fear those that bore the cross.

My mind was a blur. The Jarl was shouting orders, but I could barely make out what he said. I got up and charged for the kitchen. I had to get to Astrid. I had to-

"Sigrid!" The Jarl called.

I froze. I had not managed to get three steps.

I turned to my lord and bowed. "Yes my Jarl?"

He gestured to me, axe in hand. "Call up Ivar Quick Claw! We shall have need of him."

He wasn't wrong. I shouted into my head. _Uncle! Uncle! Wake up!_

_Eh? What is it?_ Came his voice in my head.

_The Red Wools are here! In winter! Please, we need your axe."_

I could feel the grin in my head and my Riastarthe surged as my body shifted, bones cracking as they grew longer and my muscles strengthened.

In moments, the legendary warrior stood before the Jarl. I watched through his eyes as he smiled. "Well then my lord, who's blood would you have me let?"

#

_The Present_

I failed.

I hugged my chest with tiny rabbit paws, feeling a lump form in my throat. I had failed and Ivar was gone and for some reason my mind was so muddled I could barely even remember Astrid's face, much less my own name.

The fox warrior pulled out his gun and pointed it at my head. "Get out of Judy's body. Now."

I eyed the weapon. Judith had seen plenty of them. Terrible fire spitting things that could fell great foes with ease.

I could only pray it would be enough. I took the weapon in my paws and lowered it to my forehead. "Please... Just do it."

The fox flinched. "What!?"

The others were rousing. The shield maiden (Fangmeyer was her name, I think) bolted over. "Nick, what the hell?"

The fox pulled his gun back, staring at me in horror.

I laughed, tears streaming down my face as the madness of the situation and the bubbling pool of Riastarthe within me brought me to tears. "I'm fucked. Fucked. Fucked, fucked, fucked..."

The language's catalogue of swears was pathetic. Or perhaps simply this rabbit's was. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered. I gripped at the ground, sobbing. "Dead... I'm dead!"

There was a rumble through the floor. I froze.

The giant, the _elephant_ rose to her feet, a bizzare tentacle protruding from her face and a body so large it cast a shadow upon us from far across the mirrored hall where we rested.

I could not read its expression. It advanced on me and I pressed against the wall, cowering in terror. I opened my mouth, but no words came out. _Oh odin, what nightmare is this!_

I started crying again. Everything about this was wrong!

The warriors had me surrounded... But they made no moves to crowd me. The white shield maiden got low to the ground. Kneeling down and holding out a paw. "Hey... It's okay. It's Fangmeyer, remember me?"

I eyed her paw warily, keeping close to the wall. If it was a trick...

Oh, what did it matter. I sat down, defeated. "Please just kill me."

The elephant raised an eyebrow. "Okay, I feel like I missed something here."

"Don't listen to it!" Came a bellow.

The crowd turned to see the chained grey wolf glaring at me. "Get the hell out of my friend you demon!"

I met the glare, dead on. I had seen eyes like that before. They were something I could handle. I gripped on to the familiarity of the situation and forced myself to my feet. "Listen well you Red Wool fucking Westerner. I am no demon! If there's any demon here it's you!"

I started advancing on him. "Is that why I'm here? Is that your barbaric torment? Throw me into the body of a bunny with your foul magics to torment me after death?" I gave him a solid harrumph and raised my eyes above him in contempt. "I knew you Westerners were weak cowards, but I didn't know you were petty in your perversion."

To my surprise, the grey wolf blinked. "What? What are you talking about?"

"Yeah, that really does seem to be the question of the hour." The elephant began.

The white wolf started walking towards me, slowly. "Why don't we just all sit down and-"

"Shut up!" I turned on the other three and slammed my foot down, shattering through the floorboards with riastarthe infused strength.

The moment I tapped it I wanted to do more. Draw out all of my energy and tear this lot to pieces. I'd smash their skulls! Devour their flesh! I'd...

I froze. And then what? What was I even doing? Killing out of riastarthe infused rage like some aimless mad dog? Fighting for a family that I no longer had. I crumpled down on the broken wood, splinters digging into my trousers. I had no hope. No future. I was just a ghost in a strange world.

The fox walked up to me, eyeing my up and down. "So... You seem like an actual person right? Not some weird spirit thing?"

I snorted. "More or less, probably less." 'Weird spirit thing' was actually fairly apt.

Nick held up his paws, throwing on a merchant's smile. "Okay, we can work with that. First question: is Judy alive?"

I gave him an incredulous look. "Of course she is! We're bound at the soul you nitwit. What, you think I could exist if she didn't?"

He smiled. I could see the mill in his little fox head turning. I suddenly felt like I was bartering for books again. "Good, very good. Now, why are you in control of her body?"

I stared at him. "Because she's asleep? For pity's sake don't you know anything about ancestor-" I paused. Oh. Right. Westerners.

I gathered myself into a half hearted story telling pose and spoke to him as I would a child. "Ancestor spirits are the spirits of dead wolves who had powerful souls. Usually they go to Valhalla, but sometimes they come back to watch over their clan, strengthening the souls of their descendants by binding to them and empowering them with riastarthe."

He nodded. I saw the elephant take out what I can only assume was a priceless pad _filled_ with pure white paper and start taking notes.

I grimaced at the waste, but went on. "Once a soul is bound, the only way the spirit goes away is if you kill them... Although considering the circumstances," I gestured to my ridiculous rabbit body. "It seems likely that thrice damned, soul chewed Red Wools can tear apart souls and shove them into whoever the fuck they want."

Nick nodded. "I see... Okay, so. That's interesting." He pented his fingers, kneeling down to meet me. "It just so happens that the bunny you're 'bound' to is a friend of mine. Are you saying the only reason you're controlling her is because she's asleep?"

I thought on that. "Well... Technically I could wrestle control from her even when she was awake, but it would be both a pointless struggle that she could well win and very rude." I sighed. "You know this is supposed to be an incredible, empowering thing? Having proved your worth enough to be an ancestor spirit, gaining one as a sign of your potential..."

I kicked at the pile of shattered wood. "And now it's some stupid nightmare. Thanks to _you_." I snapped at the wolf chained behind me... With buck teeth it looked rather ridiculous.

Nick put a paw to his chin. "Okay... So, were you the one making Judy angry?"

I narrowed my eyes. "No! Of course not you nincompoop, it's..." I bit my lip. Breathe in, breathe out, just like Ivar taught you. "Sorry, it's a side effect of the Riastarthe. Drawing upon the power of battle rage can make one's temper flare, but I admit it seems to be burning hotter than usual."

In fact, it was strange.

The riastarthe flowing into me was small, the bunny did not have much warrior's blood in her after all, but for some reason it was pooling.

I experimentally strengthened a muscle in my arm. More riastarthe flowed in instantly. In fact, more than the riastarthe I'd used.

My eyes went wide. Something was wrong with my channels. That could get, very, very bad. "Okay... We may have a problem."

"You think?" The elephant asked, narrowing her eyes. Her shield maiden companion shushed her.

The mill in Nick's head was clearly turning again. "So... is Wolford right? Is she, or you, or both of you going to be consumed by rage and start tearing the world apart?"

I thought on that. If I drew on more and more riastarthe, and my body kept filling up and up and up faster than I could burn it off...

I gulped. "Oh sweet Odin he's right." I turned to the fox, now even more panicked than before. "It's alright though! We just need to get to an herbalist and borrow a few chains. We'll be fine.... We'll be fine."

The warriors were completely lost. The first to speak up was Fangmeyer. "Uh... Why do we need an herbalist? Or chains...?"

I groaned. "Oh sweet gods of Asgard... Look, I don't know if it grows down here or if we'll have to find a trader to part with the powdered stuff, but there's an herb that can be used to burn out all your riastarthe if you start getting too testy. Sometimes after battle our warriors would take it, have a nice howl while their spouse restrained them and then guzzled some monkshood to counteract it. The hangover's hell, but we don't have a lot of options here."

The warriors exchanged a look. Francine gave me an uneasy grin. "Uh... What's the name of this plant? It wouldn't happen to be... You know, highly illegal right?"

I blinked. "What of course not? It's not some bizarre poison, I'm just talking about night howlers."


	8. Planning For the Worst

I let out a solid yawn as I finally opened my eyes. Man, I hadn't slept that well in ages.

"So Sigrid, can you tell me a bit more about this Jarl of yours?" Came a voice. "I think I've got him narrowed down to a few different people and I just want to make sure..."

I blinked away the blurriness in my eyes and noted that I was not in fact on Francine's back. I was staring down at a  badger with a laptop who looked a heck of a lot smaller than before.

I stared at my paws. The panic attack started almost instantly. _No, no no... Not again._

Fangmeyer was on me in an instant. He took off his button up uniform top and passed it to me. "Quick, put this on!"

I blinked at him. "What?"

He locked eyes with me. "Trust me. It will help. Now slip it on and look in the mirror."

More curious than anything else, I did as I was told, carefully putting on the jacket (over a random blue T-shirt that had somehow ended up on me) and straightening it out. It fit pretty well all things considered.

I turned to the mirrors lining the dance studio's walls and eyed the wolf reflected back at me. Her uniform was rough, but she was clearly a ZPD patrol officer.

I felt oddly more comfortable. Not comfortable enough, but more so than last night.

I turned to the white wolf in his undershirt. "Thank you..." I fingered at his sleeves. "How did you know this would help?"

He smirked. "Judy Hopps is a cop, before anything else. Besides who better to deal with body dysphoria than me?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

Fangmeyer blinked. "Uh... I'm trans." He broke out into a grin. "Wait, you actually didn't clock me? I thought I didn't pass at all."

I stared at him, suddenly very embarrassed. "I... I guess I just-"

"She's a bunny Fangsey," Nick said idly, appearing in the room with a 'Sofia & Katya Dance Studio' coffee mug clamped in his claws. He took a sip and threw on a casually smug smirk. "She doesn't use scent nearly as much as us canines."

I looked between the wolf and Nick. "Nick, you knew?"

He tapped his nose. "I thought you'd be able to smell him with the new hardware, but I guess that scent difference wasn't something you were trained to look for."

I thought back to the photos in Fangmeyer's apartment and several pieces of the puzzle started to fall into place. I turned to him, suddenly very curious. "So wait, does that mean you-?"

"Careful how you finish that sentence Hopps." Came Francine, who was still lying down on the floor with her eyes closed.

Fangmeyer shot the elephant a flat look. "She didn't say anything Francine, and it's not like I need you to defend me like some delicate snowflake."

The elephant groaned and rolled over, causing the floorboards to creak audibly. She propped her head up in her hands and narrowed her eyes. "Well excuse me for trying to have your back partner, I just thought you'd had enough of that crap last night."

Fangmeyer crossed his arms. "Are you still on about that? Sigrid's from the tenth century and she figured it out pretty quick. I think we can cut her some slack."

"They had trans people in the tenth century too." The elephant said, "Personally I think you're giving her extra leeway because it feeds your knight in shining armor complex." She batted her eyes and adopted a swooning look. "Oh Fangmeyer! I killed people for centuries and am currently raping your friend, please save me from myself!"

The white wolf snorted "Oh come on, it's not like Sigrid is inside her by choice."

The elephant rolled her eyes. "I swear Greg, you act like this whenever we bump into some cute wolf girl on-"

"Okay!" I called over the bickering duo. My eye was twitching. "Let's back up to how I'm being _raped_."

"Oh!" The Badger piped in, with a frighteningly cheery smile on her face. "She's saying that because we spoke to the spirit of the Viking Skald (that's a bard/storyteller girl) that's living inside your brain. She's currently slightly merged with your consciousness so it's an extremely intimate situation."

The badger put a finger to her chin, thoughtfully. "Buuuut... she didn't ask to be there or anything, and all the initial murder prodding stuff was because she's been forcibly loaded up with this magic testosterone  called riastarthe. So it's less like she's raping you and more like the universe is forcing you to have brain sex at gunpoint."

Satisfied, she clapped her paws together. "So, anywho, could you put her back on the line for a minute? I'm filling in the pieces to so many puzzles!"

 I stared at her. My brain was trying to process all of that information, but I was having a hard time getting past "buwuh?".

Nick  took my hand and squeezed it. "It's going to be okay Judy. This is actually a good thing, now we have another piece of this crazy. Plus, we can actually reason with this girl, so it's not like you're strapped to some starving beast or anything."

A growl came from the corner. "Damnit you idiots! Nothing's changed!"

I turned to Wolford, still chained up in the corner. He grit his teeth, glaring at the room at large. "It's a lie, it's all a demon's lie and you bought it hook line and sinker."

Nick groaned, nonchalantly taking a sip of his coffee. "Wolford, do you have some kind of bondage fetish? I _will_ gag you."

"Gag this!" Wolford shrugged off the shoulder of his coat, revealing a very nasty set of scars. "You know who did that? Stella did that! A sweet eight year old girl who liked coloring books and wanted to be veterinarian so she could spend all day playing with parrots."

His eyes grew cold, haunted. "You know, she had my parents blood on her muzzle when she came for me. It was all over her rocket ship pajamas. I freaking begged her to stop as I ran, but she didn't even flinch..."

He shot Nick a hard look. "You know who tore her off of me? A Sheathed Fang trooper. You know who put her out of her misery? A Red Wool. One of the same Red Wools that the demon in Judy railed against."

His voice was firm. "You're all just sitting around chatting with your new friend Sigrid huh? Did you all just conveniently forget what she did to that guy at the fish market? About what she made him do to all of those animals? Fangmeyer you spent two hours picking up scraps from what was left of that moose at the docks and all you can do is whine about how we should be cutting her slack? Have you all gone completely mental?!"

The room was silent.

Finally I walked over to wolford's gear belt and drew the silver knife.

Nick dropped his coffee on the mats, staring at me in shock. "Carrots what the hell are you doing!"

I sighed. "Taking out an insurance policy." I turned to the bound wolf. "This will kill me?"

His fur slicked. "Judy, no! You can't... Damn it, just let me take the fall! Clearly no one gives a used fig about me, I never wanted you to-"

I put a finger to his muzzle. "Wolford, just stop. This isn't your fall to take. It's mine."

Nick got between us. "Judy no! No, no, no! You are not killing yourself. You are going to be fine! You- You have to be!" The fox was quaking in his boots.

I smiled. I guess some part of him really did love me.  I put the knife in my breast pocket, right by Fangmeyer's badge. "Like I said. It's an insurance policy. I'm not going to give up or anything, but we have to face facts. If it comes down to me or other people..."

I grit my teeth, my heart pounding just a little faster as the implication sunk in. Still, I couldn't back down. "I'm a cop Nick. Sometimes cops die. I knew what I was getting into right from the start." I took his paw in mine and gripped it tight. "But that's not going to happen, okay? We're going to fix this thing."

The fox was speechless. He looked so helpless when I was this size. I gave his hand one more squeeze and turned back to the room at large. "Okay, so did the voice... Sigrid I guess, have anything useful to say?"

Suddenly everyone found something far more interesting to look at than me.

I narrowed my eyes. "What? What now?"

Fangmeyer coughed. "Well, she gave us an idea..." he said, "But you're not going to like it."

#

The fire in Judy's mind burned bright. But that just made it all the more dangerous.

I panted. My fingers were blistering from the heat and covered with splinters.

_Just one more log... One more..._

My fingers were slipping, aching... But I managed to toss on the last leg.

I fell to my knees, finally managing to draw in a few scant breaths.

I eyed my handiwork wearily.

The use of riastarthe was a skill honed through generations, but the principle was simple, construct an analogy that worked for you  and stick to it. Weave an elaborate tale, a complicated scene that explains the flow of energies through you, and then you'll be able to control the energy of battle rage just as you did the forces of the mundane world.

I had heard of mill workers who imagined harnessing the power of rushing streams, ship's pilots who flew through the waves with their power as though sailing on gale force winds...

My method was  far more simple. To me at least, riastarthe was not rushing water or flowing air... It was fire.

It came in a flash if given wood, but would burn you if you did not dig a proper fire pit... Or left tinder lying around.

When I was young, my uncle and I had built a whole mead hall in my mind with two hearths and a cook stove to make sure the temperature and fuel was perfectly controlled.

But now my mind was so scattered and my spirit was so broken that all I could think of was a blazing heap of wood surrounded by a dark frozen forest of crumbling trees.

It burned bright, brighter than any fire I could remember. With such power I could undoubtedly burn the whole world to the ground.

But I would burn with it, and where torches could be lit by smaller flames, this one was far too hot to harness safely.

So I sat in the mind of a prey creature I did not know, the side of me away from the flame always freezing, throwing deadfall onto a fire and praying the forest didn't burn down around me.

Or at least that's what I _was_ doing. After all this time I just didn't have the strength. The fire was the size of two garou stacked on top of each other and I'd barely managed to ring it with stones before it lit up all of the frosted brush surrounding it. I had been furiously throwing wood on the pile for what felt like years and those damn branches just kept crumbling around me.

By now I could barely move. I never knew the dead could tire. I tried to pick myself up, but my muscles ached and my breaths came shallow... Besides, the fire was warm in the cold night. I knew I would burn if I jumped inside it, but at least the chill would leave my bones wouldn't it? It would have to...

"You know that's not how it works Sigrid." Came a voice.

I turned my head in shock, just at the edge of the fire's light was the deer I wanted to see most in the world. I lunged to my feet. "Astrid!"

She held up her hooves. "Stay by the fire! Don't worry, I'll come to you."

Always a practical one, my love. She hopped over a few stray branches and the moment she was within arm's reach I pulled her into a desperate kiss. I stared at her. "You... You're here? How?!"

She took my hand in her hoof and squeezed it. Her face was surprisingly somber. "You have a wonderful imagination."

I stepped back. Of course, an illusion, a phantom with no substance. A common quirk of the mind.

I fell to my knees. "I... Oh gods I'm so sorry."

She knelt down an pulled me into a hug. "It's okay. You died trying to protect me, Sigrid I couldn't possibly ask for more than that."

She could have. She could have asked for so much more. Deserved so much better.

 The deer frowned at my expression. "Here," She pulled out a stoppered gourd and passed it to me. "Drink this, it will warm you up."

I opened the bottle and sniffed it. It was a good spiced cider, still piping hot and rich with cinnamon.

I blinked. "Where did this come from?"

She smiled back. "Could you really imagine a version of me that didn't bring refreshments?"

I chuckled. "I guess not." I downed the rich appley cider and felt the chill fade from my bones. Then  I leaned on Astrid's shoulder and nuzzled into her fur, so different from a wolf's, so sweet smelling and perfect.

Another branch fell near us, a large one. I scrambled to my feet and Astrid rose as well. "We'd best get to it." The deer said. "With the two of us it won't be so hard."

I stared at her, "Wait? You can help me?"

She smirked, that calm, infuriating, knowing smirk that had drawn me in the first time I laid eyes on her. "Can you imagine a version of me that wouldn't?"

I broke out into a grin.

The managing of riastarthe, was all about analogies. She may be just a figment of my longing imagination, but all things in the mind had power.

I picked up one end of the fallen branch and she lifted another. I felt a dim hope light inside me.

_I've bought you some time Judy... The rest is up to you._


	9. Reinforcements

Chief Bogo sighed from the screen of Nick's phone, which was now casually propped up on the dance studio's coffee table. "Let me get this straight, you want me to illegally steal a class A substance from the evidence locker and smuggle it out of police custody so that Hopps can get strapped to a table and ingest it so she'll fly into a frothing rage that will burn out all her 'magic testosterone' while she can't hurt anyone?"

Nick Scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah... That's about the sum of it chief. We might just use a locked room, though come to think of it there's a lot of bondage gear in this safe house." He put his paw to his chin thoughtfully.

Bogo buried his head in his hooves. "You're all just lucky my drug test came back negative."

Fangmeyer tilted his head. "You took a drug test sir?"

The buffalo snorted. "I'm surprised you didn't. Look, I understand you're all worried, but frankly you're losing sight of a very important detail."

Francine, looming behind all of us while I idly rested my gangly wolf body on her leg, squinted at the screen. "What's that Sir?"

Bogo took off his glasses and pointed at me. "That your source of information is completely untrustworthy."

The crowd deflated at that. I could hardly argue-

#

I leapt to my feet and knelt down before the tiny, magic communication box. "Honored Chieftain, I swear on Jarl Fair-Furred's grave and Odin's eye, I mean no harm to you and your people."

I did my best to meet the Chieftain's gaze, "In truth I am no proper raider, merely a Skald far from home. I have no quarrel and seek no gold..." I felt my heart sink saying that aloud. After all, what use had I anymore for golden armbands?

I put that thought aside. "I am merely a lost bitch misplaced from my world..." Suddenly my manners returned to me. I reached to my belt and found it bereft of coin pouches. I blushed. Okay, perhaps gold would have come in handy.

I  bowed deeper. It was okay, I was good with words. I could spin this. "Um... I would have brought a gift, but I fear my voyage to your time has been... tumultuous, and... weird."

I cringed internally. I was just _such_ a poet wasn't I?

 The motley warriors surrounding me blinked. The elephant pulled her massive leg back. Everyone  else leaned away.

I then felt a sensation  that I can only describe as my brain being rammed out of my skull by a particularly indignant, rancid halibut.

#

I wrestled control of my body back and snapped at the air. "What the Hell was that! I thought you were asleep or something!"

_I was just trying to be polite! Astrid is tending you're inner fires too, so I-_

"So you thought you'd fucking dangle me around like a puppet?" I cried.

_I- I'm sorry Judy, I-_

I growled. "Oh no, you have not earned the right to-"

I stopped. I was practically seething with rage, but the rational part of my mind, the part that was always trying to piece together the puzzles around me, was telling me something I hadn't even considered yet.

Maybe yelling at her was... _wrong_.

Oh, don't get me wrong, grabbing a hold of my body was pretty messed up, but it was at least understandable considering she didn't _have_ a body. And if Wolford was wrong, then she'd never intended on stealing mine, she just didn't know what she was doing.

I felt sick to my stomach. If Wolford was wrong, if the spirit inside me _wasn't_ running some truly elaborate hustle....

Then Sigrid wasn't a criminal.

She was a victim.

I bit my tongue. It hurt a lot more than usual with my new teeth, but it helped me focus long enough to put my words together. "Look, Sigrid, I get it. You're scared. You want to help, but you don't know what's going on and you don't know what's happened to you, at least not the whole story... But right now I need you to not go dancing around in my shoes okay? I..." I considered my words carefully. "Long term I want you to have some space of your own, but until I can focus better, until I can get us somewhere _stable_. I have to be me. Do you understand?"

The voice in my head was silent.

"Well?"

_I... I understand... Gods above this is just so bizzare. I'm supposed to be in a member of family, not some random thump- er, a Southerner. I'm supposed to be a gift, not a curse... Sweet Odin, I wish I knew what was happening to me._

I let out a long, sharp breath. "You and me both..." A thought occurred to me. "Wait, if you're awake, and we're at least on speaking terms now, would you be able to make me _me_ again?"

I don't know how I could tell, but she didn't seem happy about that request. _It would take a lot of energy and focus..._

"And it would be a gesture of goodwill that would help me trust you. _Please._ " I held out a paw and extended my sharp, wicked claws. "I don't feel like me when I'm like this."

There was a long pause.

Finally she spoke up.

_Alright, I suppose you should put your legs in your shirt. You know, aside from garouing, these clothing problems were always a lot less troubling when it was just one wolf turning into another._

"I can imagine." I tucked my legs into my shirt, "Ready when you are."                          

The pain was still there when the shift came, but it wasn't anywhere near as brutal as before. The world grew larger around me, and I found myself once again sitting in an oversized shirt...

I was under dressed, but I was me.

I broke out in a grin. "Nice work Sigrid!"

Her response was strained.   _Glad I could... ugh, help._

My ears fell. That did not sound good. "Sigrid, are you okay?"

_I'm fine! That, well... it took a bit out of me. We're going to need to be... Ugh... Just take it easy with the riastarthe burning for now will you? Every time I pull some, the fire gets taller, and we have to work harder and harder to keep it in check._

I nodded "Okay... Got it. How do I know if I'm burning riastarthe?"

_Just don't do anything magical okay? I need some rest..._

"Okay, you rest... Thanks."

She was silent.

I looked around, everyone was staring, obviously.

I was getting used to it... Though there was a new twist. Katya, having just walked in, dropped her teacup to the ground. "Eto piz`dets..." she whispered.

"Okey dokey then!" Nick interjected, clapping his hands together. "I actually have to hand it to you Carrots, that was pretty impressive, but I think we should get back on track here."

Bogo cleared his throat. "Yes, quite. I suppose that's enough for a test run. Once you have transport, signal me and we'll get you an ampule of the night howler serum and a few dart gun clips of its antidote. There's a parking garage by the off-site records office that should be perfect to make the hand off."

Fangmeyer didn't look happy. "Chief, you leaving the office isn't a good move. Right now this... Sheathed Talon, I think Wolford called them? Anyway, they don't know we're in contact with you and they have moles in the department. If the chief of police makes an unscheduled pit-stop it's going to raise suspicions."

The cape buffalo frowned. "I hate it when you're right... But sending a squad car with a couple of officers down to records would hardly be suspicious."

 Nick perked up. His old hustling smirk curled on his lips. "Oh, I get ya! You stash the stuff in the wheel  well, and then when they're gone we-"

"Wilde, will you stop thinking like a criminal for five seconds!" The chief snapped. He sighed. "They're just going to give it to you. It's long past time we started bringing in the more trustworthy officers on this investigation." The buffalo snorted. "Frankly, I should have thought of that before I signed up Fangmeyer to interrogate our ever so beloved ex-mayors."

The white wolf's ears rose at that. "You got me on the schedule, sir?"

The chief nodded. "I had to call in a favor or two, but yes, you're on for two o'clock in the South Zootopia medium security correctional facility." He leaned in close to the camera. "Make sure to get something out of them, so far they're our only sources that aren't either part of this bizzare cult, or a literal ghost."

The white wolf snapped into a salute. "I won't let you down, chief."

"Good, now get that CI of yours with the ridiculous van on the phone and let's hammer out the details."

#

Finick's van was packed to the brim with bodies, though to be fair most of it was Francine lying sideways.

Speaking of Francine, she seemed oddly nervous."I never thanked you by the way," She said suddenly.

I blinked at her. "Huh?"

She looked away. "You know, for the pudding cup."

Okay that was the _last_ thing I'd expected to hear. "What?"

The elephant blinked. "You remember right? Two weeks ago you accidentally got a hippo size pudding cup at the corner store. It was nice of you to give it to me." Her trunk pawed vaguely at the floor. "I just, I never said thanks you know?"

I tilted my head. "Uh... You're welcome?" I had no idea what had brought this on.

She rolled over, shaking the whole van. "Uh, yeah... Good talk." She let out a sigh. " _Literally crazy._ " she mumbled.

I probably wouldn't have heard those last two words without my newfound abilities.

Now if only I could find another ancient wolf spirit to give me super context.

I turned my attention elsewhere. Fangmeyer had called shotgun, on account of being the largest mammal that would fit. Finnick, of course, had absolutely refused to cede the driver's seat.

That left me, Nick, Francine, and the still bound Wolford crouching in the back, waiting for the handoff. Nick was furiously texting, saying something about setting up an escape plan. Wolford was staring at me.

I raised an eyebrow. I admit I wasn't sure what to make of the grey wolf anymore, and I still had his knife in my belt, tucked right under under Fangmeyer's uniform jacket (The white wolf had parted with it so I'd have something to wear if I ended up changing again... and to strut how tight his muscles showed through his undershirt). 

"Something you want to say?" I asked the chained wolf.

He shook his head. "Just thinking."

It seemed like there was more to it than that, but I sensed I wasn't going to get more out of him at the moment.

I hear the faint sounds of an engine drawing closer. "They're in the garage. It'll just be a couple minutes."

Nick pulled out his pistol. Finnick started the engine

Fangmeyer's ears flattened. "Nick, do you really think you'll need that?"

The fox just stared out the window. "Buffalo Butt's not exactly the best judge of people. Besides, I'd rather be safe than sorry."

A lone blue ZPD cruiser pulled up and parked a few spaces away.

Nick tensed. Francine rolled into a crouch and readied her massive weapon.

Fangmeyer grabbed hold of Wolford's leash.

And then Clawhauser popped out of the car and the van breathed a collective sigh of relief. 

Nick practically leapt out of his seat and engulfed (well attached himself to, there was a lot of cheetah to engulf) Clawhauser in a hug. "Spots! God damn is it good to see you!"

The cheetah's nervous smile was replaced by a coo of joy at the rare feeling of a touchy feely Nick.

I was jealous.

Clawhauser's partner quickly joined him, a medium sized male sheep named Ramsey. He barely managed a wave before Fangmeyer scooped him up in an affectionate embrace of his own. "You're our cavalry? Awesome!" The white wolf then paused, placing the sheep down. "Um, sorry."

Ramsey just smirked and hugged him back. "Good to see you too Fangsey... Wait, where's your Jacket?"

Francine appeared behind them and rolled her eyes. "Never misses an opportunity to strut, now does he? How's it going you two?"

I popped out of the car and tilted my head at the white wolf and sheep. "Wait, you two hang out? Since when?"

Fangmeyer snorted, leaning against the patrol car with a grin worthy of Nick. "Gotta spend more time with your fellow officers Hopps. Rams and I grew up together. He makes the best damn Miso soup in the city."

The sheep looked away, embarassed. "Could never figure out why a... Well, you know, someone like you wanted to hang out with a nerdy sheep like me." He turned to me, nervous. "Hey Hopps... How are you feeling?"

His heart was pounding a bit fast. I guess Bogo had briefed them.  I let out a breath and steadied myself to reassure the Ram. "I'm fine. And I'll be even better once I get that night howler."

Ramsey's heart beat stayed pretty fast, but he managed a smile, pulling a bulletproof case out of the cruiser's trunk. "Heh, almost feel like I'm on the other side you know?"

Nick smirked. "Trust me Ramsey, if we were doing this the gangster way, we'd have six dead drops between us and we'd all be clutching our guns anyway."

The sheep shrugged and proffered the case, but Clawhauser waved him away, "Forget that, I've got the super spy method right here!" He pulled out a case of donuts.

Francine smiled. "Oh hell yes! I haven't-" She yanked her hand back. "You put night howlers in them didn't you?"

He nodded. "Pretty sneaky huh? The night howler pods are in the bismarks, and the antidote darts are in the jellies."

Ramsey stared at his partner in disbelief. "Dude!" He threw out his hooves. "I almost ate one of those!"

"I told you not to! Besides, I thought you didn't like donuts."

The ram raised an eyebrow. "Okay, A) there's like six identical boxes in the cruiser at any given time. And B) sometimes I skip breakfast and greasy food is better than no food."

"*Gasp* You've been sneaking my donuts? How could you?"

While this very deep conversation was going on, Fangmeyer plucked the very unappetizing pastries out of Clawhauser's hands and passed them to me. "Does Sigrid think this will work?"

_To be honest, I've never seen sweet rolls like this, but if they contain the flower and some monkshood to counteract it, then they should do the trick._

I nodded. "We're good. Now we just need to find an armored room and somewhere to stash Wolford while I take my medicine." To be fair I already knew of one sure fire place that could keep me secret and contained, but I'd rather leave it for a last resort.

"Hi." The bound wolf called faintly from the van.

Clawhauser frowned, eyeing the wolf with wide eyes.

I felt an unpleasant surge of empathy... Clawhauser was friends with everyone in the ZPD.

I walked over and wrapped his leg in a hug. "Don't worry Claws... It's complicated, but we'll sort this all out. He was..." I bit my lip. It was long past time I admitted it. "He was just doing what he thought was right."

And then... Something very funny happened.

Ramsey's heartbeat slowed, almost in an instant. "Wolford's here."

Francine raised an eyebrow. "Uh, yeah? We ain't splitting up, and it's not like we could leave him alone at the safehouse."

Ramsey sighed. "I'm sorry."

That said, he pulled a jewel hilted knife out of his sleeve and slashed it into his own arm.

I don't know how it happened, I don't know why, but time seemed to slow as our entire squad screamed in white hot pain. We fell to the ground, writhing in agony. The whole garage rumbled as Francine's bulk smashed into the pavement.

 I couldn't move...I couldn't think. My arm burned like it had been shoved into a blast furnace, what was _happening_?

In the final moments before I passed out, I saw the deep red blood dripping into Ramsey's wool. Dyeing it red as he pulled his blade back.

"Don't worry Judy..." the sheep said, raising the knife over me. "I'm going to get you out of there."


	10. A Long Time Ago

_A long time ago..._

The arctic wolf pulled back the bowstring and lined up her sights. She sighed. "I'm really, really sorry..."

She let the arrow fly into the old paper target. I shook my head, there was no way I was letting this get her down. "It's not a big deal Lucy..." I genuinely didn't care how many false starts we had.

"But it is!" Lucy said, lowering her bow. "Ramsey I really thought I had it in me this time, you just... touched it and I flipped, and I don't know why. I _really_ wanted it, and I just..."

I came up behind my girlfriend and hugged her back (she had told me front hugs felt weird for some reason), I wasn't much, but I was soft. "Lucy, it's okay! We literally just turned 18 three months ago, it's not like we're in some kind of race."

She had been quite insistent about us not doing certain things until we were legal. I guess when you wanted to be a cop that stuff was important. Anything that was important to my girlfriend was important to me.

Besides... If she was right about the whole 'no chances of a criminal record' might be a good career move for me too. It was a rare thing, a sheep cop, but I had four years of ranger scout experience. And with Lucy by my side, I could do anything.

I gripped her tight, except make her feel safe, apparently.

She put the bow down and took hold of my hoof. "I know it's just..." she turned around, leaving the embrace, but still holding my hoof tight. "I love you okay? In a very non-platonic way. And I don't care that we're different, it's just..." She frowned, looking down at herself. " _I_ feel weird. Like, why would you ever want to be with someone like me?"

I snorted. Lucy was sharp as a whip, but she got crazy ideas into her head sometimes. For one, she thought she needed to wear a paper bag on her head to go out in public, when in reality she had brilliant white fur, an amazing athletic build that made me weak in the knees, adorable ears...

And when she smiled, which I admit wasn't often, but it happened, you could feel this deep well of hope building up inside you. Like everything was going to be okay.

She was the most beautiful person I had ever seen.

And yes, I know I was a sheep and she was a wolf. If you've got anything to say about that, go shear yourself.

But she wouldn't have believed any of that, so instead I just gripped her paw back and smirked, "Because you're awesome, and you smell nice, and you're good with a bow... And my stereo is still at your place."

Lucy snorted. "Oh, I see. The old 'hold your electronics hostage' gambit. I knew I was doing something right."

She slipped out of my grasp and passed me the bow. "Alright, enough with the mush, let's see if you can-"

A laugh from behind interrupted us.

I groaned, not this again.

Lucy turned around and crossed her arms, her ears laying flat back against her head. "The fuck do you want Victor?"

Behind us, a grey wolf in a polo shirt and cargo pants sauntered into the vacant lot. He wore the easy smirk of someone who viewed the entire world as his. "What, I can't visit my favorite dyke?"

I tensed at the slur. A growl built in Lucy's throat. "A: I'm Bi. B: go suck a dick."

He laughed. "See, _I_ thought that was your boyfriend's job."

He sidled up closer, _way_ too close. "You know it's funny, you actually get a male to clean your pipes for once and you still haven't discovered the joys of being on the bottom." He grinned. "I'm told it's quite fun. Often."

I put myself between him and Lucy, this vacant lot was getting way too crowded. "Okay, that's enough. Seriously Vic are you a Saturday morning cartoon villain or something?"

It sounded tougher in my head.

Lucy slid past me. "It's okay Rams, I got this."

She sidled up to the other wolf with a, there was no other word for it, _predatory_ grin. "Look, I get it, you're the size of a grape, and you think if you fucked a bitch straight your dad would stop calling you his little princess. But let's get something clear here."

She leaned in real close. "I'm not one of your whores. And my sheep? He's more man than you'll ever be."

Victor was speechless.

She turned back to the target. "Now if you don't mind me, I'm going to-"

It happened so fast I didn't even have time to flinch.

Victor's fist slammed into the back of Lucy's head with a resounding thwack, and she crumpled to the ground, eyes dead and white fur splaying against the ground.

Victor stared in shock, like he didn't believe what he'd just done.

My heart started pounding. I ran over to Lucy. Her eyes were closed.

She... She wasn't breathing.

I felt my hooves shaking. _Calm, focus!_  "Victor! Your cell phone! We need to call an ambulance!" He'd been showing it off for weeks, he _had_ to have it on him.

The wolf  was still staring at his paws. "I... I..."

I flipped Lucy over, my brain running on auto pilot. Chest compressions. I needed to do chest compressions. "Victor! Call 911!"

"Those don't work..." He said.

"What?" I pumped up and down on her chest. She had to be okay, she _had to_.

"This didn't happen." He said, staring at me. He shot me a terrified look... Honestly it was a thousand times more scary than his smirk.

I kept pressing, I think I heard a rib crack. "Victor, for fuck's sake, she's going to die!" I shouted.

"This. Didn't. HAPPEN!" He cried.

He slammed his foot into my chest. I felt a rib crack with the impact. A chunk of wool scraped away as I fell to the I fell to the ground, gasping for air.

He stared down at me. He looked desperate. "And neither did this..."

He extended his claws.

Time slowed.

I couldn't believe it. This was actually happening.

This was how it ended. The wealthy wolf with his hundred dollar shirt, who sang Karaoke at the school dance, played the guitar terribly and hated marshmallows...

He was going to kill me.

Worse, he was going to kill _Lucy_.

He'd rather have two people's blood on his paws than admit he'd gone too far...

I couldn't wrap my head around it. How could someone _do_ that? Didn't he feel anything at all? Didn't he have a _soul_?

And that's when it happened.

I saw it, like a faded after image inside him, a flicker of light...

It felt... It felt like I could reach out and touch it. Like if I did, then maybe he would understand. Maybe he would be alive, feel our pain, know this was wrong.

I did it. He staggered back.

I felt it, the pain in my gut rolling over my hooves and pouring into him as he cried out. I felt Lucy's pain, I even felt *his* pain, though for the life of me I couldn't imagine what he had to hurt over.

And I poured it all inside him. A flame lit inside me and I took his pain and tripled it. Who was I kidding? He couldn't understand. All he could do was hurt, and he deserved to.

He cried out. Something between a howl and a whimper.

I didn't know what was happening. I hadn't even *touched* him... But I could feel the light inside him flicker, and somehow I knew I was making him pay. I marched over to the grey wolf, now writhing on the ground in agony, clutching at his skull. I kept pouring in the pain, filling him up with it until he was primed to burst, the fire in me burning like mad...

And then, as though someone  it stopped. The after image that was his essence burst from his body and flitted off somewhere in the dirt of the lot.

He crumpled, completely and utterly lifeless.

The body was completely unmarked...

I had no idea how I'd done it, but he was gone.

I felt my guts twist... But then I heard a cough.

 _Lucy!_ I ran over, checking her. Her chest was rising and falling. She was breathing again!

She had a chance. I hurried back to the grey wolf's corpse and rifled through his pockets. I flipped open his phone and dialed.

"Zootopia 911, What is your emergency?"

"I need an ambulance! The vacant lot at the Corner of Pack and Broad Street! Hurry!"

#

She was okay.

After what felt like minutes, but the doctors told me was hours, I'd left her bedside... I needed to let them work. She'd be okay.

She had to be.

The police... Had scratched their heads over Victor. I'd told them what happened, excluding the mystical parts, but the fact of the matter was he'd just _died_. They said it looked like his heart had given out from shock.

I was exhausted, confused, and terrified as I finally made my way back home.

Mom and Dad had hugged me, aggravating the cracked rib. My doctors told me it would require nothing more than bed-rest and ibuprofen to fix.

My parents told me everything would be all right...

I was too old to believe them. But I really wish I wasn't.

It wasn't until the next morning, when I was stuffing books into my bag and trying to pretend it was all a dream, that he showed up.

He a black sheep with his wool tinged with grey. He had warm eyes hidden behind spectacles and he was sitting at the breakfast table reading a book with a cup of tea steaming in front of him.

He looked up when I entered. "Good morning." he said. He gestured to one of the chairs. "Please, sit."

I stepped back. "Who are you? Where are my parents?"

The ram chuckled. "Jimmy I'm hurt, you don't remember me from the herd reunion? And your parents left a note. I thought you'd see it when you walked in."

He did seem vaguely familiar. There was indeed a note on the table. Apparently there was a surprise family visit and they were at an early breakfast, leaving my great uncle behind to make sure I got to school alright.

 That was weird... Not super weird, but I didn't have time to deal with it. I strapped on my backpack. "Good to see you. I really have to get going though, I have a quiz in history and-"

"I know what you did to that wolf." he said, idly.

I froze. "He... He died of a heart attack."

"Indeed. One you caused. I'm not judging by the way." The old ram held up his hooves in understanding. "You were clearly protecting yourself and your love. Lucy Fangmeyer wasn't it? Quite the character from what I hear."

I put my bag down, narrowing my eyes "What do you know."

The ram sighed, slipping off his glasses. "I know that you're scared. I know you don't know what's happening and you just want to wake up from this horrible dream... And you do have the option to. Well, at least metaphorically. First though, there is business to attend to."

That said, he pulled a small box from his pocket and opened it up.

Inside was... Light. No, just something glowing. It looked like an ugly hunk of quartz someone had dug off the sidewalk. A crystal in name only.

I caught a reflection... an image... something.

And then I saw his face. "V-victor!"

The old ram sighed. "Indeed. When you tear a soul from a body by force, it drifts into the nearest vessel. Usually it's a hunk of rock. Sometimes glass. I saw a painting with a soul in it once, though I couldn't say much for the artist."

"Cut the cryptic crap!" I shouted. My heart was beating fast.

My uncle groaned. "And here I thought I was being clear. You have powers. I have them too. We highland sheep have always been special."

"No we haven't!" I snapped. The rage over that topic was a bit surprising to be honest, but I suppose it made sense. If he was going to feed me some speciesist crap while my wolf girlfriend was in the hospital...

He held up a hoof. "Special does not mean superior. More often than not it's a curse. Why do you think we hide these abilities? They are dangerous, painful to exploit, and more often than not, they're bloody."

He clasped his hooves together. "But they _can_ be used to help people. There's more than one type of magic in the world, and believe me when I say ours is actually one of the _least_ dangerous." He shrugged. "But that's neither here nor there. Right now you have a choice."

He pushed the quartz to me. "You can either smash this crystal, letting Victor's soul go to whatever afterlife he's meant for and forget this ever happened... Or I can teach you to talk to him, to help him, to control your powers and fight the _real_ monsters of the world."

He leaned towards me. "The choice is yours. But choose wisely. I won't lie to you the life isn't safe, but you will make a difference in the world, one far greater than any patrol officer." He took a sip of his tea. "Not that I want to discourage you from that. Honestly the skills would be useful."

I felt like the ground was shifting underneath me. "What are you?" I asked. I couldn't think of anything more specific.

He smiled. "A red wool, just like you. Now, let us discuss saving the world..."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the flashback chapter, but it was important.


	11. No Villains

_Sigrid_

_Centuries ago..._

_You_ _need to let her die._ Ivar said, coldly.

I glared at the ashes of our village, "That's not happening." I whispered. I couldn't see or hear a soul. I stalked out into the ash, carefully picking my way through the debris. The herbalist's hut, or what was left of it, was not far.

My stomach turned when I saw the Great Hall. There wasn't much left, but an ashen bone poked just above the debris, already covered in a light dusting of snow.

I prayed it was from a chicken...

 _Stay focused! Enemies are all around us!_ Ivar snapped.

I bared my teeth. "Your craven hide will be quite safe, fear not." Odin reserved the coldest Hel for those who fled from battle.

Ivar's rage boiled inside me. _Are you calling me a coward?_

I found the willow tree behind the hut's ashen remnants and pulled out my axe. "The shoe fits."

His rage rose to dangerous levels, boiling over into riastarthe.

I didn't care. I slammed my axe into the tree, far more harshly than I needed to. Still, the willow bark would break her fever. It had to.

I felt Ivar force himself to calm. When he responded, his voice was far more controlled. _Child... what I did was save your life and that of your lover's. Odin does not want us to let our families die._

I chopped furiously at the tree. A far larger chunk than I could carry broke free. The poor thing might die and right now I didn't care. "You dare call me family after telling me to let the love of my life _die_?"

 _Sigrid, open your eyes!_ The old wolf snapped. _She is slowing us down, and suffering while she does it. Make no mistake child, I know how much you care for her, and I care too, but her wound is festering... She's too far gone._

"Well maybe  we're too far gone!" I snapped.  

_Child..._

I snarled at the freezing wilderness. "Listen here and listen well you miserable shell of a man!" I gestured to the ashes. "Look at this! Our tribe is gone! Our home is gone! The Red Wools took everything from us." I grit my teeth. No tears. Now was not the time. "I will tear our throat out before I let us lose anything more... No one else is dying on my watch..." I let out a breath. "This time we don't run. This time we fight."

_..._

"Well!?"

... _You should make an infusion with the bark. Add pine needles, they taste terrible, but... Well, for all I know to her tongue they're honey._

I allowed myself the faintest of smiles. "Thank you."

_Anything for family._

Somewhere close, a twig snapped.

I heard a very familiar whimper.

 _Astrid!_ I turned to the noise, axe in hand.

It nearly slipped from my paw.

Five rams emerged from the woods. They wore the tabard of the cross.

One of them had Astrid, bleeding from her greening arm. He had an arm clamped over her mouth.

One of the rams stepped forward, a black sheep with his wool tinged with grey. He spoke Norse, with barely a hint of an accent. "Hello child. I see you care for this woman very much." He held out a hoof. "Give yourself over peacefully and-"

The sheep holding Astrid cried out in shock, letting her go for a moment. She shouted through the flesh in her teeth. "SIGRID RUN!"

 

#

_Sigrid_

_Present_

I caught the sheep's wrist. His eyes widened in shock.  

_This time we fight._

I wrenched the blade from the red-wool's hoof and flipped him. I may not have been a raider, but I learned from the best there ever was.

But clearly he was no slouch. He was on his hooves in a second.

Just long enough for me to take true form.

I tied the jacket around my waist for modesty. It took perhaps a second, but it cost me dearly.

The red-wool channeled his pain towards me and I too was wracked by the agony that had burned through Hopps.

But if there was anything I knew how to do, it was endure.

I flared my Riastarthe, charging him full bore. He dodged two blows before I managed to slam my foot into his chest. He went flying against the garish van and hit so hard he left a dent in its side.

I clasped my  hand around the guardswoman's baton. It was no axe, but it would do. I wound up my arms and went in for the killing blow.

#

_Ramsey_

_Years ago..._

The beast was on me, claws slashing and jaws biting, she was half my size, but she was impossibly strong.

I pushed her off, just barely, rolling away and pumping myself to me feet.

I dug my knife into my arm, building up the pain and smearing my blade in potent blood, slamming the agony into her.

Sergeant Iron Claw was on her in an instant. The wolf pinned the squirming child and exposing her chest to me.

This was it.

I just needed to stab the puppy.

Just jab a knife into her little belly...

Right through her rocket ship pajamas.

I only hesitated a moment. It was more than enough time for something terrible to happen.

The adorable little girl I was so concerned for howled in rage and clamped her jaws around Iron Claw's arm. The wolf commando screamed out in pain and clutched at her wound as the monster in a child's flesh came at me once more.

But this time. She stopped. Her eyes bulged and it looked like she could barely breathe. She shuddered in a choking agony I could never have hoped to cause.

My Uncle Arthur entered the scene.

The werewolf thrashed for a moment, then passed out from shock. I turned to my uncle. The black sheep barely had a drop of blood on his wrist.

The sergeant stared at her bitten arm. She drew her pistol and snapped it under her head.  

"SOLDIER, HOLD!" Arthur bellowed.

She froze.

The old black sheep sat down in front of her and sampled a drop of her blood, running it through his tongue with a thoughtful expression on his face. He eyed her up and down, then smiled. "Your soul is as pure as ever child."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a bandage. "I can't say the same for your arm though. Give me a moment to wrap this until we can get you to a proper doctor. Now, now, don't fret. an infection will kill you just as sure as a demon."

The wolf woman stared at the bandage for a moment. Then mutely held out her arm.

The demon twitched.

My uncle made a vague gesture at it and it convulsed itself into unconsciousness once more.

I wanted to puke.

After he was finished patching up the Sergeant, he came over and sat down next to me. I stared at the unconscious puppy, confused and terrified. I was barely even able to comprehend what was happening.

Arthur pressed the grip of my dagger into my hoof. "You still have a job to do."

I tensed.

Arthur sighed. He looked out at the snow. "The first time I did this, I was terrified too. Make no mistake little lamb, magic is a messy business, and a difficult one. It strains the body, the mind... and even sometimes the soul."

He gestured to the twisted puppy. "But it is the right thing to do. What you see before you isn't a little girl anymore. Some strong souls cling to their sanity for a time, but everyone eventually succumbs to the demon's curse completely."

"Not strong souls..." The Sergeant says, finally speaking up. "Prey souls."

Arthur's expression darkens. "Soldier, there are a number of factors that speed or slow the corruption. Will can be cultivated. The meditations you perform-"

"Are a stopgap, at best." She turned to me. "Predators turn faster. Wolves turn fastest of all." She points to the pup in front of us. "That little girl... She never stood a chance."

"Is... Is she dead?" Asked the boy behind us.

He was young pup, barely older than the girl, and had been frozen in terror for quite some time. I'd honestly forgotten we'd saved him.

Arthur smiled, walking over and getting low. "No child, not entirely. In fact, you should be able to talk to her quite soon."

He tilted his head to me. "Jimmy?"

I eyed the dagger, the jewel glinting in its hilt. The boy was staring at it too. I know we'd talked about this, but actually doing it...

I  grimaced, "I mean... Lamb's blood, what if I tried to pull the demon out instead? I read about attempts-"

"Oh for pity's sake." Iron Claw stood up, drew her pistol, and put a silver bullet in the little girl's gut.

The wolf boy recoiled, and I was right there with him. Even Uncle Arthur looked shocked. "Iron Claw, what are you doing? I had her-"

The old wolf reloaded her pistol. The puppy's blood was pooling. "What you _had_ was a dangerous demon temporarily pinned. You may be in this for some spiritual kumbaya shit, but I'm here to keep people safe."

She jabbed a claw at me. "You want to save her soul? You have two minutes. Tick tock Baby Blood Mage. Tick tock."

She walked away.

#

_Ramsey_

_The Present_

I snapped my dagger up and parried the blow.

_Not this time..._

I leapt to my feet and darted past the demon, nicking her arm along the way.

The Demon recoiled from the bite of my silver, the metal burning her and throwing her off balance.

I smiled. I'd felt a flicker of Judy's soul when my blade touched. I could still save her!

I whipped around and whirled my bloody arm at the beast, pouring out as much agony as I could muster.

She grabbed my throat, but with all the pain she couldn't hold on for long. I just had to outlast her.

Just as my vision was starting to fade, the beast crumpled to the ground.

I walked over, holding the monster down with my pain. It gurgled and twitched, but I clearly had it outmatched.

I smirked. Raising my knife once more. _Don't worry Judy. I got this._

A paw weakly grasped at my leg. The demon stared up into my eyes, defiant.

And then, something impossible happened.

"I am... I am not going to let you h-hurt these people Red Wool..." The demon gurgled.

I stepped back. That- That wasn't Hopps. Was... Was the demon _talking_?"

There was a rumble of an engine behind me. Thank heavens, reinforcements! I turned around to greet the Sheathed Talon...

And was promptly thrown into the air as I slammed face first into a car.

The thing was terrifying, sharp red edges, racing stripes and an engine that roared louder than any lion I'd met.

Before I'd even hit the ground an arm with giantic claws popped out of the driver's seat and snatched up the demon. I hit the ground with a horrible crunch and the car bolted out just as fast as it had came, weaving past sheathed talon cruisers like they were nothing.

Some strange, detached part of my mind read the license plate "FST NML".

Then, and only then did the Sheathed Talon arrive.

My head was swimming, my ears were ringing, and I think I was seeing triple, but I would have had to be deaf to not hear Nick's laugh as they clasped him in irons and yanked his phone from his paw. "IT'S CALLED A HUSTLE ASSHOLE!"

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Don't forget to comment! They encourage me to keep writing more than anything else!


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